otorins   glbroab 


o    fc 


~'.  fe 


■?£« 


BY 


FRANK     PRESBREY 

Author  of   "  Vacation   Days   Abroad," 
"To  Far  Away  Vacation   Lands,"  etc. 

IMiti)  3Uus!trations(  from  ^fjotograptjs! 


NEW  YORK 

THE  OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

MCMVIII 


Copyright,  1W8.  by 
FRANK  PRESBREY 


All  Rights  Reserved 


THE    OUTING    PRESS.    DEPOSIT.    N.    V, 


To  My  Wife 


2U39330 


m 


Namero  da  CertlCest  ^\)  %     ty    (i     t/nL/ 

Le  Prefet  du  departcmcnt  d 

Vu  le  decrct  du  lo  mars  1899  portant  reglement  relatif  a 
la  circulation  dcs  aulomobiles,  et  specialement  son  article  11; 
Vu  I'avis  favorable  du  service  des  Mines; 
Dclivre  a  M.  {^jKh/ .   rW>W/c/  ^ 

domicilii  k/i?'    'f\'^xy^/\A- ,     q  0    (^\e^^<>^    <^    cmXc^aw*  . 
un  certificat  de  capacite  pour  la  conduite  d  '^^ 


j@ 


ne 


des  Voitures  a  petrole 


foDctionnant  dan/les  conditions  prescriles  Rffr  le^ecrct  susvise. 

^^'^mUM^      >  le  ^//Ju^^l^  9  ^^ 
V_^  i/e  Prijel, 

SigBttore  da  titolur*  : 


(1)  Nnmtro  da  regi^tre  «pWal  de  la  Pre'fectnre.  —  (a)   Nom  et  pre; 
de  nais»«nce.  —    [k)  Indication   precise  da   domicile.  —  (5)  DesIgnatjfO 
vehicalet  i   la    eoodalte  detqaela  a**ppliqae  le    certificit  de  capacitj^0^'<»'i 
1 1  de  U  c'lrcnlaire  mlnisterlelle  da  »o  •>ril   1899 


^ 


Un  certificat  de  capacity,  -pour  la  conduite  des  Voitures  a  petrole — the  French  license. 


CONTEXTS 

Introductiox     .......      ix 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    Delightful    Features    of    a    Foreigx    Motor 

Trip .'5 

II    The  Ocean    Crossing  and  Arrival  in  France    V.i 

III  Our    First   Run   in    France,    from    HA^^^E   to 

Rouen    .......  27 

IV  Along  the  Picturesque  Coast  of  Normandy  :57 
V    Mont  St.  INIichel  and  the  Road  to  St.  INIalo   .     .')5 

VI    Characteristics   of   Normandy   and    Brittany 

Towns   ........     65 

VII    From    St.    Malo    South    Through    Ro.al^ntic 

Brittany         .......     75 

\TII    In  the  Heart  of  the  Chateau  Country  .     87 

IX    From  Toltis  to  Paris        .  .  .  .  .101 

X    Our  Last  Run  in  France  from  Paris  to  Bou- 

logne-Sur-Mer  .  .  .  .  .113 

XI    Something    About    French    Roads   and    their 

Excellence    .  .  .  .  .  .  .127 

XII    Arrival    at    Folkestone,    England,    and    the 

Trip  to  London    ......   139 

XIII  English  Motor  Clubs  and  Road  ^L\ps    .  .151 

XIV  From    London   to   Scotl.\nd   over   the   Great 

North  Road  .  .  .  .  .15!) 

XV    Crossing   the   Border   Line   of  England   and 

ScOTI^\ND  .  .  .  .  .  .173 

XVI    The  Rl-n  Across  the  Moors  of  Scotl.a.nd  .   185 


Contents 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XVII    Along  the  Caledonian   Canal  en  route  to 

Oban 193 

XVIII    Ending  the  Tour  in  Scotland  and  Embark- 
ing FOR  Ireland           .....   209 
XIX    The  North  of  Ireland  and  the  Giant's  Cause- 
way      229 

XX    The  Trip  from  Belfast  to  Dublin,  and  an 

Experience  ......  241 

XXI    FrOiM  Dublin  Through  Wales  to  England     .  255 
XXII    From  Chester  to  Southampton      .  .  263 

XXIII    Practical    Suggestions    to    Those    Contem- 
plating A  Foreign  Motor  Trip  .         .  275 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  idea  of  taking  our  motor  car  to  Europe 
and  spending  the  summer  in  touring 
seems  to  have  come  as  a  simultaneous 
inspiration  to  my  wife  and  me.  Inspirations 
are  usually  infectious  and  are  caught  as  one 
catches  measles  or  mumps.  But  just  how  or 
when  we  were  exposed  neither  of  us  has  ever 
been  able  to  decide.  We  came  down  with  the 
fever,  anyhow,  at  about  the  same  moment,  and 
neither  knew  the  other  had  it  until  we  began 
to  compare  symptoms  and  diagnose  each  other 's 
feelings. 

A  well -developed  case  of  real  automobilia  for- 
eignensis  shows  the  same  characteristic  symp- 
toms in  nearly  every  instance.  The  patient 
almost  immediately  after  the  breaking  out  of  the 
disease  develops  a  mania  for  foreign  road  maps 
and  books  of  travel.  He  can  usually  be  found 
prowling  about  bookstores  earnestly  asking 
for  books  descriptive  of  motoring  abroad.  The 
fever  is  so  high  that  nothing  quenches  the  desire 
for  details.     Any  one  who  has  toured  abroad  in 


Sntrobuction 


an  automobile  becomes  at  once  the  chosen  idol, 
and  the  patient  hovers  near  him  until  he  has 
extracted  all  the  information  possible. 

Later  the  patient  is  torn  and  worried  over  the 
cjuestion  whether  he  should  take  over  an  Amer- 
ican car  or  wait  until  he  has  reached  the  other 
side  and  buy  or  rent  a  foreign  car. 

All  these  symptoms  and  doubts  my  wife  and 
I  had  to  the  fullest  extent.  How  we  solved 
them  and  how  we  made  our  trip  through  Nor- 
mandy, Brittany,  the  chateau  country  of  Tou- 
raine,  England,  Scotland,  Ireland  and  Wales  may 
possibly  be  of  interest  to  others  who  either  have 
made  or  contemplate  making  a  similar  tour. 

Hence,  without  further  apologies — this  book. 


^^ 


E  N  G  L  A  N  D 


TOURAINE 


fli'K  IIDUTF.   TiniOVail  NnUMANDY.  HltlTr.tXY  AXD  TOVIIMNE. 


Cfiapter  0nt 

Beligfjtful  Jfeatureg  of  a  jForcign 
iHotor  Zvi^ 


MOTORING  ABROAD 


chapter  0m 

tE^fje  Beligfjtful  Jfeature£f  of  a  jForeign  JWotor 
Car  Crip 

TO  those  who  love  outdoor  life  and  enjoy  the 
glories  of  nature  for  nature's  sake  an 
automobile  trip  always  appeals  with  par- 
ticular fascination.  As  has  often  been  said,  it 
is  next  to  flying.  But  that  expression  need  not 
signify  that  speed  is  the  desideratum.  Indeed, 
those  who  get  the  most  out  of  automobiling  are 
they  who  use  the  car  as  a  means  to  an  end,  and 
who  do  not  make  everything  subservient  to  the 
car  and   mere  speed. 

There  are  many  features  which  go  to  make 
a  motoring  trip  abroad  far  more  enjoyable  than 
one  in  America. 

In  the  first  place — aside  from  the  exhilaration 
of  the  tour  for  its  own  sake — there  is  that  to  look 
upon  which  is  novel  and  different  froni  what  we 


JHotoring  ^broab 


are  accustomed  to  see  at  home.  The  towns  and 
villages,  the  architecture,  and  the  people  them- 
selves, whether  city  dwellers  or  peasants,  are 
interesting  and  fascinating  as  studies. 

The  comforts  afforded  in  small  places  abroad 
are  incomparably  better  than  those  found  in 
towns  of  equal  size  in  America,  and  then  the 
roads — where  is  the  American  who  has  toured 
in  France,  Germany,  Italy  or  Great  Britain,  and 
has  not  returned  ashamed  of  his  own  country's 
lack  of  interest  in  its  rural  thoroughfares.? 

It  is  not  an  adequate  excuse  or  apology  to  say 
that  our  country  is  young.  The  science  of  modern 
road  making  is  not  an  old  one,  but  the  disgrace 
is  with  our  system  which  makes  politics  para- 
mount to  the  material  improvements  of  the 
country. 

There  is  a  great  advantage  in  traveling  by 
motor  car  abroad.  One  is  not  a  slave  to  exact- 
ing time  tables.  There  is  no  dyspepsia-breeding 
nervousness  over  this  or  that  annoyance  of  travel 
by  railway ;  there  are  no  hurried  meals,  no  hust- 
ling porters.  The  car-window  views  which  you 
have  of  the  country  when  riding  in  a  train  are 
exchanged  for  a  wide  view  on  all  sides.  And 
here  it  is  worth  remarking  that  the  usual  touring 
car  with   the   cape   top  is  far  more  satisfactory 


Our  start  frnm-  the  Hotel  Frascafi,  Havre,  was 
made  with  light  hearts  and  keen  anticipation. 


JBeligfjtful  Jfeatureg  of  a  Jforeign  tlTrip 

for  a  motor  car  trip  than  a  limousine.  The  ordi- 
nary cape  top  provides  against  rain,  dust  and 
excessive  heat  of  the  sun,  and  allows  so  much 
more  opportunity  for  observation  than  may  be 
had  from  a  limousine.  One  gives  you  a  picture 
from  horizon  to  horizon,  with  the  sky  above ;  the 
other  limits  the  view  and  shuts  you  in  in  a  way 
which,  to  many,  is  depressing. 

One  of  the  particular  delights  of  touring  in  an 
automobile  is  that  one  may  indulge  to  the  fullest 
extent  in  what  might  be  termed  haphazard 
decisions.  Sudden  whims  to  change  the  route 
or  to  visit  this  place  or  that  may  be  indulged 
without  the  annoyance  of  exchanging  or  redeem- 
ing railway  tickets.  If  you  happen  to  be  passing 
through  some  little  village  that  strikes  your 
fancy,  or  chance  to  come  across  an  inn  which 
looks  particularly  inviting,  you  do  not  have  to 
ask  the  conductor  for  a  stop-over  check,  nor 
hurry  to  the  luggage  van  to  get  your  luggage  out. 
You  may  stop  at  will  and  start  at  will. 

If  there  is  anything  which  robs  a  trip  of  much 
of  its  pleasure  it  is  slavery  to  an  itinerary  and  a 
time  table.  To  go  and  come  at  one's  own  sweet 
will  is  productive  of  far  more  pleasure,  rest  and 
enjoyment  than  to  follow  some  one's  else  itiner- 
ary, whether  it  is  the  "man  from  Cook's,"  the 

5 


iHotoring  ^liroab 


man  who  makes  the  railway  time  tables,  or  the 
man  who  drives  a  stage  coach. 

We  made  our  entire  trip,  from  start  to  finish, 
without  definite  plans  for  more  than  a  day  or 
two  in  advance,  and  even  these  we  frequently 
changed  on  the  impulse  of  the  moment. 

An  objection  to  motoring  is  that  you  pass 
along  so  rapidly  that  your  study  of  the  country 
is  more  or  less  superficial,  and  your  views  im- 
pressionistic rather  than  analytical.  Trying  to 
describe  an  automobile  trip  is  a  good  deal  like 
trying  to  describe  what  you  had  seen  when  look- 
ing into  a  kaleidoscope. 

On  the  other  hand  motoring  has  many  advan- 
tages. One  may  get  from  a  motor  car  trip  a 
knowledge  of  the  real  life  of  the  people  better 
than  can  be  obtained  in  any  other  way.  All 
railway  travel  is  from  point  to  point,  and  inti- 
mate knowledge  of  the  country  between  the 
places  visited  is  impossible.  Those  who  travel 
along  country  roads  in  motor  cars  peep  into  the 
very  doors  of  the  farmhouses  where  the  railway 
traveler  looks  only  at  the  houses  from  a  distance. 
Motor  car  travel  permits  one  to  stop  to  engage 
in  conversation ;  to  travel  through  the  little  streets 
in  smaller  towns;  to  watch  scenes  which  excite 
interest,  and  to  get  into  closer,  even  intimate 


Bclistttul  Jfeaturcs!  of  a  Jforeign  tlTrtp 

relationship  with  people  in  a  way  that  gives  a 
broader  and  better  knowledge  than  is  possible 
when  traveling  by  railway. 

Then,  too,  travel  by  motor  car  is  a  physical 
and  mental  invigoration  and  if  the  day's  run  has 
been  a  reasonable  one,  both  as  to  distance  and 
speed,  one  arrives  at  one's  destination  invigor- 
ated instead  of  tired  and  worn. 

We  found  everywhere  through  France  and 
Great  Britain  the  kindliest  sentiment  toward  us. 
We  had  been  told  that  the  feeling  against  Amer- 
ican cars  was  so  bitter  that  w^e  should  likely  have 
trouble  in  garages  in  France  where  the  chauffeurs 
were  mean  enough  to  loosen  a  bolt,  puncture  a 
gasoline  tank  or  play  other  various  small  and 
petty  tricks  in  order  to  put  an  American  car 
out  of  commission. 

We  not  only  had  no  trouble  of  this  sort  any- 
where in  France,  but  we  found  the  men  in  charge 
of  the  garages  uniformly  courteous  and  obliging, 
and  disposed  to  give  us  all  the  assistance  pos- 
sible. And  they  did  this  graciously.  We  did, 
however,  take  the  precaution,  and  this  I  would 
advise  every  one  to  do,  of  having  a  strap  with  a 
lock  on  it  put  on  over  the  hood  of  the  car  so  that 
no  one  could  open  it  and  get  at  the  engine  w^ith- 
out  leaving  tell-tale  traces.    Mere  curiosity  to  see 


JHotorins  ^broab 


the  engine  of  an  American  car  might  prompt 
people  in  a  foreign  garage  to  open  the  hood  and 
in  that  way  some  damage  might  be  done.  But, 
so  far  as  I  know,  we  did  not  even  have  need  for 
the  strap  anywhere  on  the  trip.  In  fact,  all  the 
alarming  reports  we  had  heard  about  damage 
done  American  automobiles  were  about  as  silly 
and  unfounded  as  many  of  the  other  things 
which  were  told  us  beforehand  regarding  touring 
abroad. 

We  found  garage  facilities  in  every  town  and 
at  almost  all  the  hotels.  The  charges  were  very 
small  in  independent  garages — generally  about 
three  francs  for  storage,  washing,  and  brassing, 
often  not  over  two  francs — and  in  the  hotel 
garages  there  was  seldom  any  charge  for  storing. 
Gasoline  or  "petroly  or  essence  as  it  is  called  in 
France,  we  found  under  its  various  names  for 
sale  everywhere,  even  in  the  smallest  villages 
and  often  at  farmhouses.  It  cost  from  forty  to 
fifty  cents  for  two-gallon  cans,  and  in  England 
it  was  as  cheap  as  it  is  in  the  United  States. 

We  encountered  uniform  courtesy,  not  only 
in  the  garages,  but  along  the  country  roads.  In 
fact  it  was  so  much  the  custom  for  the  peasants 
in  the  fields  to  wave  to  us  as  we  passed  along 
the  road  that  we  soon  began  to  look  for  these 


Our  friends  from  Waterbury,  uho  accompanied 
us,  added  much  to  the  pleasure  of  our  tour. 


JBeligfjrtul  JfeaturejS  of  a  jForeign  tErip 

pleasant  little  salutations,  and  to  take  the  initia- 
tive ourselves,  to  show  that  we  did  not  propose 
to  be  outdone  in  civility. 

We  had  a  pleasant  smile  from  almost  every 
peasant  we  passed  on  the  road,  and,  in  many  in- 
stances, a  polite  bow.  In  all  our  trips  we  met 
few  horses  which  showed  the  least  fear  of  the 
motor,  but  it  was  amusing  to  see  how  frightened 
many  of  the  old  market-women  would  be  when 
we  came  up  behind  them  as  they  were  jogging 
along  in  their  carts.  In  many  instances,  the 
woman  would  jump  out,  rush  to  the  horse's 
head  and  grab  his  bridle  as  if  she  expected  he 
would  turn  everything  upside  down  when  we 
came  alongside.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the 
horse  would  not  pay  the  slightest  attention  to 
us,  which  would  leave  the  old  market-woman 
full  of  disappointment  because  she  had  had  all 
her  exercise  for  nothing. 


chapter  ^fcoo 

Cf)c  0ctan  CrosisJing  anb  ^rribal 
in  Jf  ramc 


■S.I 


5  S 


Cfjapter  Ctoo 
^te  0ttm  Crogging  anb  0uv  ^tribal  m  Jfrance 

WE  sailed  from  New  York  on  the  mag- 
nificent steamship  Amerika  of  the 
Hamburg- American  Line,  which,  with 
her  sister  ship,  the  Kaiserin  Auguste  Victoria,  has 
brought  ocean  travel  up  to  the  acme  of  luxury 
and  enjoyment.  Our  immediate  party  consisted 
of  six — my  wife,  two  daughters  and  son,  and  a 
friend  of  the  last,  who  was  to  drive  the  car 
alternately  with  my  son.  We  were  accompanied 
by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  L.  White,  their  sister 
and  niece,  friends  from  Waterbury,  Connecti- 
cut, whom  we  had  persuaded  to  take  their  motor 
car  and  make  the  trip  with  us,  and  whose  com- 
pany added  immeasurably  to  the  pleasure  of 
the  tour.  Our  automobiles  had  been  sent  ahead 
direct  to  Havre  upon  one  of  the  steamers  of  the 
French  Line,  which  makes  a  specialty  of  trans- 
porting motor  cars  and  does  it  in  the  most  satis- 
factory manner. 

We  had  not  been  at  sea  more  than  a  day  or 

13 


JHotoring  ^tiroab 


two  when  we  discovered  that  a  number  of  our 
fellow  passengers  w^ere  bound  for  Europe  with 
automobiling  plans  similar  to  our  own.  Before 
we  landed  there  had  gathered  a  coterie  of  sixteen 
gentlemen,  all  of  whom  were  either  taking  their 
own  cars  over  or  were  expecting  to  find  cars 
which  were  to  be  ready  upon  their  arrival.  We 
passed  many  pleasant  hours  in  the  smoking 
room  discussing  plans  and  the  ever-present  ques- 
tion whether  it  was  better  to  take  an  American 
car  over,  rent  a  car  or  buy  a  foreign  one.  I  be- 
lieve, although  we  have  not  met  in  conference 
since,  that  every  one  who  took  his  own  car 
would  do  it  again  instead  of  putting  up  with  the 
annoyances  resulting  in  renting  over  there,  and 
the  chances  of  securing  a  poor  car  and  an 
indifferent  chauffeur. 

We  left  the  Amerika  at  Cherbourg,  the  port  of 
call  for  France  and  the  Continent,  and  upon  the 
arrival  of  the  tender — which  took  those  who 
were  landing  off  the  steamer — at  the  quay  in 
Cherbourg,  there  was  an  eager  interest  shown 
in  seven  or  eight  automobiles  standing  in  a  line 
as  if  on  exhibition  opposite  the  landing  place. 
Several  of  these  were  new  cars  belonging  to  our 
fellow  voyagers  which  had  been  ordered  to  meet 
them  upon  arrival  and  it  was  their  first  view  of 

14 


^fie  0ctan  Crosisins  antr  0uv  ^rribal  in  Jfrance 

their  purchases.  There  was  great  interest  in 
these  bright  and  shining  French  beauties  and 
the  inspection,  before  the  departure  of  the  special 
train  for  Paris,  was  very  general,  not  only  by  the 
owners  but  by  most  of  their  friends.  Several  of 
the  cars  had  been  sent,  with  their  chauffeurs,  from 
America  to  Havre  long  enough  ahead  of  their 
owners  to  permit  of  their  being  run  to  Cherbourg 
to  be  ready  for  immediate  service.  Our  own 
Locomobile  and  the  car  of  our  friends  from 
Waterbury  were  awaiting  us  at  Havre,  so  we 
had  to  go  there  to  get  them. 

Before  our  train  left  the  station  adjoining  the 
quay  at  Cherbourg,  three  or  four  of  the  cars  had 
received  their  complement  of  passengers  and 
luggage  and  had  whirled  around  the  corner  into 
the  little,  old-fashioned  street  on  their  trip  to 
Paris;  their  occupants  waving  a  hearty  "see  you 
later"  as  they  disappeared. 

In  going  from  Cherbourg  to  Havre  the  longest 
way  around  is  the  shortest  way  there,  so  we  went 
to  Paris  by  the  regular  "steamer  train,"  and 
procured  there  our  indemnity  insurance  policies, 
and  purchased  a  number  of  things  for  our  motors 
such  as  sirens,  extra  horns,  et  cetera. 

As  we  were  all  anxious  to  get  started  on  our 
tour  as  soon  as  possible,  we  left  Paris  the  day 

15 


iHotoring  ^broab 


following  our  arrival,  going  direct  to  Havre  by 
train  where  we  had  secured  rooms  at  the  beau- 
tifully situated  and  admirably  managed  Hotel 
Frascati,  one  of  the  justly  famous  hostelries  of 
France. 

For  the  second  time  upon  visits  to  France  we 
found  ourselves  the  victims  of  their  "Fourth  of 
July"  festivities  and  holiday  which,  in  that 
country,  comes  July  fourteenth,  and  is  in  cele- 
bration of  the  storming  and  fall  of  the  Bastille. 
No  laborer  in  France  will  consent  to  work 
either  the  day  before  the  fourteenth,  because 
he  must  have  that  day  to  prepare  for  his 
festivities,  or  the  day  after,  because  he  must 
have  that  day  to  get  over  them. 

Our  car  had  arrived  but  had  not  been  taken 
from  the  hold  of  the  ship  and  because  of  these 
holidays  it  was  absolutely  impossible  to  have  it 
touched  for  three  days. 

With  our  usual  American  impatience  at  delays 
we  tried  to  bribe,  then  cajoled  and  finally  threat- 
ened, but  it  was  no  use.  It  was  a  clear  case  of 
wait  for  three  days,  so  wait  we  did  with  the  best 
grace  possible.  Fortunately  for  us  they  were 
having  the  annual  yacht  races  at  Havre  at 
the  time  and  the  city  was  gay  in  consequence, 
and  we  had  an  opportunity  of  witnessing  the 

16 


The  Michelin  shields  which  we  put  on  so  thor- 
oughly protected  our  rear  tires  that  we  did  not 
have  a  single  puncture  in  either  of  them  dur- 
ing our  entire  trip. 


Wf)t  0ttan  Croggins  antr  0nv  ^rribal  in  Jfrance 

races  which  were  very  exciting  and  unusually 
interesting. 

During  our  stay  we  put  in  one  evening  amid 
the  holiday  festivities  in  the  Jardin  or  Park  of 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  or  City  Hall.  The  populace 
had  gathered  en  masse,  bent  on  merrymaking, 
yet  notwithstanding  the  crush  and  crowd  we 
never  saw  a  better-natured  lot  of  people  together. 
There  was  no  drunkenness  or  disorder,  and 
whether  one  was  able  or  not  to  elbow  his  or  her 
way  up  near  enough  to  the  great  pavilion  where 
the  band  was  playing  to  hear  the  music  it  mat- 
tered little.  Merriment  ruled  the  hour  and 
every  one  was  bent  on  taking  things  as  they 
came.  We  saw  here  in  this  Park  one  of  the 
prettiest  tricks  of  illumination.  There  were 
myriads  of  little  colored  globes  with  miniature 
candles  inside  set  in  the  closely  cropped  grass  of 
the  lawns  in  geometric  and  ornamental  figures, 
and  the  effect  was  surprisingly  beautiful. 

The  evening  following  this  fete  there  was  a 
grand  Naval  Ball  at  our  hotel  which  all  of  the 
officers  and  sailors  of  the  yachts,  which  had 
taken  part  in  the  races,  attended  with  their 
sweethearts  and  wives.  It  was  a  brilliant  affair 
and  we  enjoyed  watching  the  dancing  and  later 
the  presentation  of  the  prizes,  which  was  attended 

17 


iHotoring  ^tiroab 


with  great  ceremony,  much  speech  making  and 
enthusiasm. 

Havre  is  a  very  interesting  city.  Its  crooked 
streets  and  quaint  old  shops;  its  many  bird 
shops  filled  with  parrots  and  odd-looking  tropi- 
cal birds  brought  there  by  the  sailors  from  all 
parts  of  the  world;  its  wonderful  harbor,  whose 
narrow  entrance  between  the  ends  of  the  two 
breakwaters  was  so  close  to  the  hotel  that  we 
could  have  recognized  friends  on  decks  of  passing 
steamers,  are  interesting  and  would  be  far  more 
so  if  we  had  not  felt  that  we  were  being  held 
prisoners  while  our  motor  car  was  peacefully 
reposing  in  the  hold  of  a  vessel  lying  in  full  sight 
from  our  hotel. 

Even  the  fete  de  la  Republique  Frangaise^  how- 
ever, like  all  other  holidays,  came  to  an  end, 
and  at  last  we  saw  the  crate  containing  our 
motor  car  lifted  up  through  the  hatchway  and 
swung  by  the  enormous  derrick  over  the  side 
of  the  ship  and  lowered  to  the  lighter  to  be  taken 
to  the  customs  house  for  appraisement.  The 
enterprising  agent  of  the  concern  through  which 
I  had  shipped  my  car  was  on  hand,  and  through 
his  energy  and  interest  we  were  saved  a  full  day 
at  least.  By  some  subtle  influence  he  persuaded 
the  captain  of  the  lighter  to  sail  off  across  the 

18 


tKfie  0ttan  Crosigins  antr  0uv  ^tribal  in  jTrance 

basin  between  the  quays  to  the  customs  house  as 
soon  as  our  motor  car  had  been  placed  aboard. 
The  man  in  charge  of  the  unloading  set  up 
vociferous  protests  when  he  saw  the  lighter  leav- 
ing with  hardly  half  a  load,  but  evidently  our 
friend,  the  agent,  had  bribed  the  man  in  charge 
and  away  we  went,  leaving  the  excited  French- 
man shaking  his  fist  at  us.  Once  at  the  customs 
house  another  derrick  was  brought  into  play  and 
the  crate  hoisted  to  the  quay,  where,  as  if  by 
magic,  there  appeared  eight  or  ten  lusty  men 
who  began  to  take  the  crate  apart.  I  do  not 
know  that  I  can  express  in  words  the  particular 
sense  of  interest  and  gratification  that  I  had  in 
seeing  our  familiar  car  gradually  pushed  out  of 
the  crate  in  which  it  had  come  across  the  ocean. 
Here  it  stood  on  the  cobblestones  of  the  quay 
in  old  France,  as  if  to  say:  *'Here  I  am,  ready 
for  the  run.     When  are  you  going  to  start  .^" 

The  formalities  in  connection  with  the  cus- 
toms were  soon  completed  because  our  ubiqui- 
tous friend,  the  shipping  agent,  had  gone  to  the 
offices  of  the  customs  house,  secured  an  appraiser 
and  had  brought  him  down  in  a  cab  to  have  him 
at  hand  the  minute  the  car  was  out  of  its  crate. 
He  apparently  took  a  great  deal  of  interest  in 
inspecting  the  auto.     He  had  the  hood  opened 

19 


iHotorins  ^broab 


and  went  over  the  engine  very  carefully,  looked 
at  the  wheels  and  the  upholstery  and  evi- 
dently was  more  interested  in  the  inspection 
because  it  was  an  American  car  than  to  get  at 
its  actual,  or  assumed,  value.  I  had  taken  the 
trouble,  before  leaving  New  York,  to  secure  from 
the  makers  of  my  car  a  statement  covering 
every  feature  of  the  car;  the  factory  number,  the 
number  of  the  motor,  the  exact  weight  of  the  car, 
its  dimensions  in  every  particular,  color  of  the 
body,  chassis  and  wheels,  and  its  chief  and  indi- 
vidual characteristics.  This  I  had  had  translated 
into  French  and  had  it  at  hand  to  give  to  the  cus- 
toms inspector.  I  found  that  this  saved  consider- 
able time  as  he  could  copy  the  essential  features 
of  the  description  at  once,  without  having  to  ask 
questions.  While  the  customs  officer  was  ar- 
ranging these  details  our  friend,  the  agent,  was 
having  the  tank  filled  with  essence.  As  soon  as 
the  customs  papers  were  complete  I  paid  the 
duty,  which  was  $185.00,  and  took  the  oflScial 
receipt  which  I  subsequently  turned  over  to  the 
customs  officials  at  Boulogne  upon  leaving  for 
England  and  received  back  the  same  amount, 
less  fees  amounting  to  about  six  dollars. 

We  had  sent  the  car  down  to  the  packers  in 
New  York  with  four  of  the  worst  looking  old 

20 


These  little  French  village  boys  are  adepts  at 
catching  a  few  centimes  by  performing  tricks 
themselies  or  shoicing  off  their  trained  dogs. 


tlTfie  0ttan  Crosfgmg  anb  <!^ur  ^rribal  in  Jf  ranee 


tires  that  ever  passed  through  the  streets  of 
the  city.  All  that  we  cared  was  that  they  would 
last  long  enough  to  get  the  car  to  the  packers,  as 
it  was  planned  to  put  on  new  tires  upon  arrival 
in  France  and  throw  the  old  ones  away.  As  soon 
as  the  car  was  released  from  the  customs  house  in 
Havre  we  drove  to  the  Garage  Burton,  7  Rue  de 
Beranger,  which  we  found  thoroughly  modern 
and  equipped  with  every  facility.  Here  we  fitted 
the  car  with  new  four  and  one-half  inch  Michelins, 
and  also  Michel  in  shields  for  the  rear  wheels  and 
chains  for  the  front  wheels  to  prevent  punctures. 
While  the  majority  of  the  French  roads  have 
perfect  surfaces,  the  liability  to  puncture  is  many 
times  greater  than  it  is  in  the  United  States  be- 
cause of  the  large,  heavy-headed  nails  which  the 
peasants  universally  wear  in  the  soles  of  their 
sabots  or  wooden  shoes.  In  scuffling  along 
the  road  these  nails  come  out  and,  the  heads 
being  heavy,  are  likely  to  rest  on  end,  points  up. 
This  is  a  source  of  great  annoyance  to  auto- 
mobilists  and  leads  to  many  punctures.  A 
gentleman  wdio  had  toured  in  France  the  year 
before  assured  me,  on  the  way  over,  that  I  could 
count  on  a  puncture  or  two  a  day  unless  I  put 
shields  on  my  rear  wheels  and  chains  on  my 
front  wheels.     I  owe  him  a  debt  of  gratitude 

21 


jHotorins  ^Ijroab 


for  this  suggestion,  and  pass  it  along  to  those 
who  come  after.  We  found  that  the  garage 
man  knew  exactly  what  was  meant  and  they 
were  attached  to  my  car  with  no  trouble  and 
little  expense. 

The  shield  is  an  arrangement  which  hugs  the 
tire  of  the  rear  wheel,  being  held  in  place  by  iron 
braces  attached  to  the  frame  of  the  chassis  and 
strong  rubber  bands  coimecting  the  braces  with 
the  shield.  This  shield  looks  like  a  gridiron  in 
that  there  are  transverse  steel  bars  which  pick  out 
anything  which  may  stick  in  the  tire  as  the  wheel 
revolves.  It  is  seldom  that  the  first  impact  with 
a  sharp  substance  makes  a  puncture,  and  if  the 
thing  can  be  immediately  pulled  out  it  will  save 
trouble  nine  times  out  of  ten.  The  shield's 
working  is  almost  perfect  as  nothing  can  pass  the 
several  different  bars  without  being  pulled  out. 

The  chains  which  dragged  on  our  front  wheels 
were  simply  light,  flexible  steel  chains,  so  at- 
tached to  the  mud  guards  as  to  sweep  all  points 
of  the  surface  of  the  tire.  It  may  be  that  we 
were  particularly  fortunate,  but  I  am  inclined 
to  think  that  these  simple  appliances  attached 
to  the  car  at  a  total  expense  of  less  than  five  dol- 
lars are  what  makes  it  possible  to  say,  with 
absolute  truth,  that  we  did  not  have  a  single 

22 


Cfje  (0cean  Crogsimg  anb  (0ur  ^rribal  in  jFrance 

puncture  during  our  entire  trip  through  France. 
In  fact,  our  speedometer  showed  2,300  miles 
before  we  had  the  first  one,  and  this  was  on  a 
front  wheel  where  the  chain  had  worn  out  and 
we  had  failed  to  replace  it. 

We  also  had  attached  to  the  car  in  such  a  way 
that  whoever  sat  at  the  side  of  the  driver 
could  operate  either  one  of  them,  the  large  siren 
and  extra  horn  I  had  purchased  in  Paris.  We 
found  this  to  be  particularly  desirable  because 
in  going  through  the  narrow,  crowded  streets  in 
many  of  the  French  towns,  the  driver's  attention 
had  to  be  concentrated  upon  operating  the  car 
to  avoid  running  down  people  who  were  often 
aggravatingly  inattentive  and  deliberate. 

Tires  and  tubes  cost  in  France  just  about  one- 
half  what  they  do  in  the  United  States.  I  paid 
for  four  and  one-half  inch  tires  $42.50  each,  and 
for  inner  tubes  about  seven  dollars  each.  I 
found,  too,  that  all  accessories,  such  as  horns, 
sirens,  etc.,  could  be  purchased  at  the  same 
proportionate  saving  over  American  prices. 

The  matter  of  securing  an  operator's  license 
and  a  license  for  the  car  in  France  is  not  only 
troublesome  but  takes  much  time  unless  your 
car  is  shipped  from  the  United  States  by  some 
concern  which  has  "arrangements"  for  securing 

23 


otoring  ^broab 


these  licenses  for  you  at  once  upon  arrival.  The 
law  requires  that  you  shall  make  formal  applica- 
tion for  such  a  license  to  the  Prefect  of  Police  on 
stamped  paper  which  can  be  obtained  at  any 
post  office.  In  the  course  of  time  you  will 
receive  an  acknowledgment  and  be  assigned  a 
time,  usually  two  or  three  weeks  ahead,  when 
you  are  to  appear  and  give  before  a  duly  author- 
ized official  an  exhibition  of  your  ability  to 
operate  a  motor  car.  Several  concerns  of  ship- 
pers are  now  equipped  with  facilities  at  Havre  by 
which  your  examination  or  the  examination  of 
your  chauffeur  will  take  place  as  soon  as  your 
car  is  out  of  its  crate  and  you  will  receive  a 
temporary  permit,  or  ^'Perrnis  provisoire  de 
circulation,"  your  permanent  license  being  for- 
warded to  you  later.  In  our  case  we  had  this 
temporary  paper  in  less  than  ten  minutes  after 
our  motor  car  was  uncrated  and  were  saved 
time  and  annoyance,  the  regular  license  owing 
to  the  red  tape  and  deliberate  methods  of  the 
officials  reaching  us  after  our  return  to  America. 
We  had  previously  procured  the  little  photo- 
graphs (about  one  and  one-half  inches  long  by 
one  inch  wide)  of  my  son  and  his  friend 
who  were  to  drive  the  car,  as  the  law  requires 
that  these  be  pasted  on  the  licenses. 

24 


In  Rouen  the  Tour  de  la  Grosse  Horloge  under 
which  we  passed,  is  one  of  the  historical  and 
architectural  features  of  that  interesting  city. 


chapter  ^ree 
jfrom  J^abvt  to  l^uen 


Cibapter  tKljree 

0UV  :fit9it  3^un  in  jf  ranee.    Jf  rom  J^abre  to 
3^ouen 

OUR  friend,  the  shipping  agent,  with  his 
customary  desire  to  do  everything  pos- 
sible for  our  pleasure  and  comfort,  had 
delegated  one  of  the  young  men  in  his  office  to 
ride  with  us  to  the  outskirts  of  the  city  of  Havre 
and  start  us  on  the  right  road  to  Rouen.  In 
Havre,  as  in  all  French  cities,  it  is  a  troublesome 
thing  to  find  one's  way  through  the  labyrinth 
of  streets  and  out  of  the  town.  Very  often  the 
streets  of  a  little  place  of  a  few  thousand  in- 
habitants will  be  so  tortuous  and  so  utterly  with- 
out system  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  go 
into  the  city  at  one  side  and  come  out  any- 
where near  where  you  wish  in  order  to  continue 
your  trip  beyond  on  the  proper  road.  I  recall 
that  in  one  town  in  Normandy,  of  not  more 
than  two  thousand  inhabitants,  we  wandered 
about  for  half  an  hour,  and  three  or  four  differ- 
ent times  went  out  to  the  end  of  some  street 

27 


lotoring  ^broab 


thinking  it  would  lead  us  to  the  right  road,  only 
to  find  that  we  would  have  to  turn  around  and 
go  back  to  the  center  of  the  town  and  try  again. 

Our  guide  appeared  at  the  hotel  just  as  we 
were  leaving,  rigged  out  in  his  dust  coat  and 
goggles  as  if  he  were  ready  for  a  long  tour  and 
without  ceremony  climbed  in  at  the  side  of  the 
driver.  He  directed  us  through  the  main  part  of 
the  city  to  the  suburbs,  where  we  supposed  he 
would  leave  us,  but,  evidently  the  joys  of  motor- 
ing with  an  American  party,  the  beauty  of  the 
day  and  the  magnificence  of  the  scenery  were 
such  that  he  felt  he  could  sacrifice  for  the  time 
being  his  duties  in  the  dull  routine  of  the  shipping 
office.  He  calmly  settled  himself  as  we  reached 
the  open  country  and  apparently  was  to  be  our 
companion,  for  how  long  we  did  not  any  of  us 
know,  nor  could  we  even  speculate.  As  it  was 
he  went  all  the  way  to  Rouen  with  us  and  really 
added  to  the  pleasure  of  the  trip  by  his  enthusi- 
astic descriptions  in  broken  English  of  the 
various  places  which  we  passed.  We  all  felt 
that  if  we  had  offered  the  least  encouragement 
he  would  have  made  the  entire  French  tour 
with  us. 

None  of  us  will  ever  forget  the  beauties  of  that 
first  afternoon's  run.     It  is  about  sixty-five  miles 

28 


The  spot  in  Rouen  where  Jeanne  D'Arc  was 
burned  at  the  stake  in  1431  is  desipnated  by  a 
marble  slab  and  continually  decorated  with 
wreaths  of  everlasting  flowers. 


0nv  jFirsft  3^un  in  Jfrance 


from  Havre  to  Rouen  by  the  Route  Nationale 
and  the  entire  route  follows  the  valley  of  the 
Seine.  If  there  is  a  more  beautiful  valley  in 
the  world  none  of  our  party  has  ever  seen  it. 
It  was  almost  one  uninterrupted  stretch  of  fields 
of  waving  grain,  great  forests,  superb  chateaux 
set  far  back  from  the  road  and  approached 
between  avenues  of  trees,  picturesque  villages 
and  long  reaches  of  one  of  the  fairest  rivers  in 
the  world.  The  air  was  sweet  with  the  fragrance 
of  the  fields,  the  wheat  was  just  in  head  and  soon 
to  be  harvested,  and  waving  in  the  breezes  were 
great  patches  of  the  bright-red  poppies  which 
are  found  everywhere  through  the  fields  of 
France. 

Our  route  out  of  Havre  was  through  the 
shaded  boulevard  to  Graville-Ste-Honorine, 
thence  by  St.  Romain  and  Lillebonne,  where 
we  had  a  glimpse  of  the  ruins  of  the  old  Roman 
theater,  to  the  quaint  little  town  of  Caudebec, 
where  we  made  our  first  stop.  The  main  street 
of  this  town,  after  wandering  around  past  the 
old  church  with  its  classic  tower,  leads  directly 
to  the  river  bank  where  it  intersects  the  boule- 
vard running  up  and  down  the  very  shore  of 
the  Seine  and  fringed  with  a  double  row  of 
great  trees.     As  we  were  going  down  this  little 

29 


iHotoring  ^broab 


street  we  discovered  a  peasant  selling  fruit, 
we  stopped  and  purchased,  for  a  few  coppers, 
a  couple  of  quarts  of  the  largest  and  most  luscious 
cherries  we  had  ever  seen.  We  ran  the  car 
down  to  the  river  bank  and  sat  there  eating  our 
fruit,  much  to  the  apparent  amusement  of  the 
natives,  taking  in  meanwhile  the  magnificent 
view  of  the  Seine  which  has  been  pictured  by 
many  artists  in  oil  and  pastel. 

The  view  of  the  Seine  at  Caudebec  is  that 
which  has  made  the  lower  stretches  of  this  river 
famous.  It  is  a  spot  which  artists  have  selected 
more  than  any  other  to  depict  the  beauties  of 
this  famous  stream,  and  it  was  a  source  of  pleas- 
ure to  us  that  in  our  first  day's  run  in  France  we 
should  have  the  opportunity  of  enjoying  some- 
thing the  memory  of  which  will  never  fade. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  we  could  see 
seated  under  bright-hued  umbrellas  the  always 
present  fishermen  patiently  waiting  a  bite.  The 
French  fisherman  is  a  type.  The  sport  seems 
to  be  a  national  pastime.  The  average  French- 
man will  sit  listlessly  on  a  river  bank  all  day  and 
if  he  is  rewarded  by  a  few  little  fish  by  evening 
time  he  is  evidently  satisfied  and  happy  with 
the  day's  results. 

From  Caudebec  to  Rouen  the  scenery  began 

30 


0UV  Jfirsit  3i^un  in  Jfrance 


to  be  more  varied,  and  the  hills  and  grades  more 
noticeable,  probably  because  we  were  drawing 
farther  away  from  the  Seine. 

We  approached  Rouen  in  the  late  afternoon 
through  a  heavily  wooded,  park-like  country. 
From  the  edge  of  the  uplands,  over  which  we 
approached  the  city,  the  town  is  reached  by  a 
long,  steep,  tortuous  descent  affording  glimpses 
here  and  there  through  the  trees  of  the  city  with 
its  many  spires  and  the  hills  beyond. 

Rouen,  with  its  120,000  inhabitants,  is  one  of 
the  famous  cities  of  France  and  has  a  notable  his- 
tory dating  back  to  841.  It  is  said  to  be  the  rich- 
est of  French  cities  in  mediaeval  history.  The 
old  walls  of  the  town,  which  were  impregnable  to 
Henry  V.  of  England  in  1415,  and  Henry  IV.  of 
France  in  1592,  have  been  converted  into  boule- 
vards and  planted  with  trees.  The  city  lies  in 
the  valley  of  the  Seine  between  two  great  ranges 
of  hills.  The  railway  from  Paris  to  Havre 
enters  it  from  either  direction  through  long 
tunnels  so  that  the  tourist  by  rail  does  not  get 
at  any  time  the  panoramic  picture  which  we  had 
in  coming  over  the  hills  and  down  into  the 
valley.  A  recent  writer  has  said:  "What  is  the 
finest  view  in  the  world  will  doubtless  always 
be  a  question  for  dispute,  but  those  who  have 

31 


iHotorins  ^broab 


seen  Rouen  from  the  hills  have  often  reversed 
their  previous  judgments.  It  is  indescribable, 
unpaintable,  impossible  to  photograph.  The 
spectacle  is  so  magnificent  that  it  seems  unreal 
and  fairylike.  The  great  city  and  its  faubourgs 
with  its  apparently  innumerable  church  spires, 
chimney  stacks  and  red  roof  tops,  and  the  broad, 
brilliant  Seine,  busy  with  its  shipping,  flowing 
through  the  midst." 

This  view  as  we  had  it  just  before  the  red  sun 
sank  beyond  the  western  hills  was  so  superb  and 
impressive  that  we  sat  in  the  car  and  enjoyed 
it  for  a  long  time  before  winding  our  way  down 
into  the  city. 

We  stopped  in  Rouen  at  the  Grand  Hotel 
d'Angleterre  on  the  Cours  Boieldieu  facing  the 
quai  de  la  Bourse  and  found  it  very  comfortable 
and  convenient.  Almost  in  front  of  us  was  the 
unique  bridge,  the  Po7it  Transbordeur,  which 
is  a  structure  so  lofty  that  the  largest  ships  sail 
under  it.  From  this  high  structure  is  suspended 
by  long  cables  at  the  street  level  a  platform 
which  is  run  back  and  forth  across  the  stream 
like  a  traveling  crane,  taking  teams  and  people 
across  the  river  without  compelling  them  to 
climb  the  high  ascent  which  would  otherwise 
be  necessary. 

32 


5  *- 


(But  jTirsit  3^un  m  Jfrance 


You  cannot  get  away  from  the  history  of 
Jeanne  D'Arc  anywhere  in  Rouen.  There  is  a 
great  monument  to  her  in  the  suburbs,  another 
in  the  market  square  and  near  it  a  marble  slab 
in  the  sidewalk  records  the  place  where  she  was 
burned  at  the  stake  in  1431.  There  are  souvenir 
spoons  of  her  and  emblems  of  some  sort  or  other 
in  every  shop,  and  we  even  saw  ginger  cakes  in 
a  baker's  window  so  perfect  in  likeness  that  you 
would  recognize  her,  leading  one  of  our  party  to 
comment,  incidentally,  on  the  fact  that  she  had 
always  understood  that  ginger  was  noticeable  in 
Joan's  characteristics. 

Rouen  is  justly  famous  for  her  superb  cathe- 
drals. They  are  creations  of  the  best  expressions 
in  architecture  and  no  one,  no  matter  how  much 
he  may  dread  seeing  Europe  by  the  so-called 
^'Cathedral  Route,"  can  fail  to  be  impressed 
with  the  solemnity  and  grandeur  of  St.  Ouen, 
the  finest  specimen  of  Gothic  architecture  in 
France.  We  were  shown  through  it  by  a  stately, 
white-bearded  ofiicial  who,  dressed  in  a  brilliant 
uniform  with  dangling  saber  at  his  side,  would 
do  credit  to  the  Ambassador  role  at  any  court. 
He  told  us  many  interesting  things,  among 
others  that  the  cathedral  was  over  four  hundred 
years  in  building  and  that  after  the  crown  was 

33 


iHotortns  ^btoab 


set  on  Duke  William's  head  in  England  he  sent 
for  Remegius  from  the  Abbey  of  Fecamp  to 
teach  his  new  English  subjects  how  the  minster 
at  Lincoln  should  be  built. 

In  the  old  church  of  St.  Gervais  is  to  be  seen 
the  original  crypt  which  dates  back  to  the  fourth 
century.  This  is  the  earliest  existing  building 
in  Rouen  and  in  the  monastery  adjoining,  the 
mighty  William  the  Conqueror  drew  his  last 
breath. 

As  there  is  no  opportunity  of  crossing  the 
Seine,  except  by  ferry,  between  Havre  and 
Rouen,  and  as  Honfleur  was  our  destination, 
we  turned  back  toward  the  sea,  crossing  to 
the  other  side  of  the  Seine  at  Rouen.  Honfleur 
is  about  the  same  distance  from  Rouen  that 
Havre  is,  yet  it  is  only  about  fifteen  miles  across 
the  mouth  of  the  Seine  from  the  latter  city.  The 
locations  of  the  two  places  are  like  the  points  of 
a  hairpin,  but  to  motor  from  one  to  the  other 
you  have  to  follow  the  pin  all  around.  Either 
place  may  be  seen  from  the  other  and  we  looked 
out  of  our  windows  in  the  Hotel  Frascati  in 
Havre  at  night  at  the  lights  of  Honfleur  just 
across  the  bay,  and  yet  to  reach  it  by  motor  car 
we  had  to  make  a  trip  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty  miles. 

34 


chapter  jfour 
llttons  tf)e  Coasft  of  ^ormanbp 


ll'e  lunched  in  the  vine-embowered  court  of 
the  Inn  de  la  Plage  at  Villernlle,  from  u-hich 
we  had  a  glorious  new  of  the  sea. 


chapter  :f  our 

^lons  tfje  JicturegquE  Coasit  of  i^ormanbp 

THE  road  from  Rouen  to  Honfleur  is  direct 
and  too  interesting  to  be  omitted.  It 
takes  one  through  Port-Audemer,  out 
past  the  Church  of  St.  Germain  and  thence 
through  a  rich  country  to  St.  Maclou  and  Fique- 
fleur,  where  we  caught  another  magnificent  view 
of  the  mouth  of  the  Seine,  with  Havre  and  its 
mass  of  spires  and  forest  of  masts  set  Hke  a 
silhouette  in  the  red  glow  of  the  evening  sun. 

Honfleur,  which  has  a  history  that  runs  back 
to  the  time  of  the  Conquest,  was  a  great  com- 
mercial center  in  the  years  now  grown  musty. 
But  the  sea  was  unkind  and  gradually  filled  its 
harbor  so  that  only  the  smaller  boats  can  reach 
the  wharves,  and  its  rival,  Havre,  seven  miles 
across  the  estuary  of  the  Seine,  has  stolen  away 
its  commerce,  leaving  it  a  haunt  of  ancient  peace, 
glorying  in  a  past  which  is  dead  and  gone. 

Like  all  these  Normandy  and  Brittany  towns 
upon   the   sea,   Honfleur   maintains    its   fishing 

37 


iotoring  ^broab 


industry  and  the  return  each  evening  of  its  fleet 
of  quaint  boats,  each  laden  with  its  shining  cargo, 
is  a  picture  full  of  keen  human  interest  and 
romance.  The  coming  of  the  fleet  awakens  the 
town,  which  an  hour  before  was  apparently 
lazily  idling  the  afternoon  away,  into  the  keenest 
activity.  Every  one  seems  to  be  alert,  and  the 
human  tide  sets  for  the  beach  as  the  boats  with 
bright-hued  sails  filled,  slide  easily  up  the  slop- 
ing sands.  Once  grounded  they  are  surrounded 
by  the  women,  young  and  old,  rugged,  strong- 
limbed  and  serious,  who  with  their  baskets 
quickly  filled  start  across  the  wide-reaching 
beach  for  the  packing  houses  from  which  the 
catch  is  shipped  to  the  markets  of  Paris  and 
London. 

The  most  interesting  architectural  feature  of 
Honfleur  is  the  Cote  de  Notre  Dame  de  la  Grace, 
on  an  eminence  back  of  the  town.  The  chapel 
was  built  by  Duke  Robert  the  Magnificent. 
Near  it  is  an  excellent  restaurant  where  the 
tables  are  set  under  the  trees.  It  is  a  capital 
place  for  breakfast  or  dinner,  and  the  view  is 
well  worth  the  climb. 

Leaving  Honfleur  we  followed  the  road  by 
the  sea  through  several  places,  each  like  Crique- 
bceuf  with  its  little  ivy-covered  church,  having 

38 


^long  tfjE  picturesque  Coast  of  i^rmanbp 


a  characteristic  charm,  and  reached  Villerville 
in  about  twenty  minutes.  This  is  one  of  the 
towns  so  charmingly  described  by  Anna  Bow- 
man Dodd  in  her  delightful  book,  "Three  Nor- 
mandy Inns."  We  had  determined  to  visit  each 
of  these  inns  and  the  reader  can  imao'ine  the 
interest  with  which  w^e  approached  Villerville 
and  the  inn  where,  "over  an  arch  of  roses,  across 
a  broad  line  of  olives,  hawthorns  and  syringas, 
we  could  look  from  our  bedroom  straight  out  to 
sea,"  and  where  we  might  find  "a  smoking  pot 
of  soup  followed  later  by  a  sole  au  vin  blanc,  a 
bottle  of  white  burgundy  and  a  naturally  ethereal 
souffle''  awaiting  us. 

The  streets  of  Normandy  towns,  especially 
those  along  its  coast,  are  not  laid  out  for  motor 
thorouglifares.  Those  which  lead  to  the  sea 
are  steep  and  without  method  or  width  and 
many  of  them  end  abruptly  in  a  series  of  stone 
steps.  The  lateral  ones  wind  in  every  direction 
and  we  went  through  several  in  some  of  the 
small  towns  so  narrow  that  the  gables  of  the 
houses  lean  toward  each  other  until  they  almost 
meet,  while  people  had  to  step  into  doorways 
to  let  our  motor  pass. 

Villerville  was  a  hopeless  tangle  to  us,  that  is, 
the  old  town  where  the  Inn  de  la  Plage  which 

39 


iHotorins  ^liroab 


we  sought  was  located,  and  we  were  just  about 
to  give  up  finding  it  when  we  discovered  a  lady 
and  a  gentleman  sipping  a  liqueur  in  front  of  a 
little,  unpretentious  cafe.  As  if  by  instinct  we 
felt  that  they  could  speak  English  and  could 
direct  us.  "Oh,  yes,"  they  said,  they  knew 
where  the  inn  was  and  were  at  that  time  on  their 
way  to  take  tea  with  the  author  of  the  book 
which  had  made  it  famous.  Curious  how  small 
the  world  is!  After  a  brief  chat  with  them  we 
left  our  car  in  charge  of  a  diminutive  girl,  who 
climbed  up  into  the  chauffeur's  seat  with  all  the 
pride  and  confidence  imaginable,  and  we  walked 
down  the  narrow,  steep  street  toward  the  sea. 
Our  directions  had  been  so  definite  that  we 
were  soon  seated  in  the  garden  of  the  inn  enjoy- 
ing the  fragrance  of  the  multitude  of  flowers  and 
the  picture  of  the  sea  spread  like  a  great  pano- 
rama before  us.  In  the  immediate  foreground 
far  below  us  at  the  bottom  of  the  cliffs  was  the 
wide  beach,  dotted  with  striped,  gay-colored 
awninojs  and  white  umbrellas  under  which  were 
the  artists  from  the  Quartier  Latin  of  Paris,  who 
come  in  great  numbers  to  these  Normandy 
shores  every  summer  to  find  subjects  for  their 
canvases.  Beyond  them  were  the  fishing  boats 
from   which   there   passed   a   steady   stream   of 

40 


The  Inn  of  WiUiam  the  Conqueror  at  Dives- 
Siir-Mer,  Normandy .  fascinated  us  uith  its 
quaint  beauty  and  sweetness. 


^long  tf}e  ^icturcsJque  Coasit  of  i^ormanbp 

bare-legged  fisherwomen  bearing  away  the 
day's  haul. 

It  was  one  of  the  times  and  places  in  this  gar- 
den, where  we  did  not  care  how  many  minutes 
Madame  la  M^re  took  in  preparing  the  meal. 
True,'  the  aroma  which  drifted  over  to  us  from 
the  coffee  which  P^re  was  roasting  in  an  out-of- 
door  oven  just  over  the  hedge  of  roses,  invited 
an  even  greater  appetite,  but  there  was  so  much 
to  admire,  so  much  of  enchantment  in  the  ex- 
quisite setting  that  we  hardly  took  thought  of 
the  hour  we  waited  for  the  steaming  omelette, 
the  poulette  en  cr^me,  the  delicious  peas,  arti- 
chokes and  the  potatoes  all  done  to  a  turn.  We 
could  have  stayed  in  Villerville  for  a  week  and 
enjoyed  every  moment,  but  we  argued  that  this 
would  be  true  of  almost  every  place  we  saw,  so 
bidding  our  hosts  farewell  in  our  best  French — 
which  they  were  too  polite  to  smile  at — we  wan- 
dered back  to  our  car,  around  which  was 
gathered  a  large  delegation  of  juvenile  friends 
of  our  little  maid,  all  apparently  jealous  of  the 
great  privilege  she  had  been  enjoying,  but  too 
well-mannered  or  too  timid  to  climb  in  them- 
selves or  to  tamper  with  any  part  of  the  car. 

It  is  but  three  and  a  half  miles  from  Viller- 
ville to  Trouville,  the  one  spot  where  the  boule- 

41 


[otortns  ^broab 


vards  and  cafes  of  Paris  are  best  reflected  by 
the  sea.  The  road  is  fringed  with  villas  of  the 
rich,  but  there  were  few  of  these  which  were 
sufficiently  attractive  in  architecture  or  setting 
to  merit  attention.  We  had  decided,  before 
leaving  Honfleur,  to  stop  at  Trouville  only  long 
enough  to  get  a  glimpse  of  it  because  it  is  dis- 
tinctly a  show  place,  resplendent  in  gaudy  hotels 
and  without  special  interest  except  as  a  type  of 
fashionable  resort.  Its  one  great  feature  is  its 
beach,  said  to  be  the  finest  in  France,  which, 
when  we  passed  through,  was  thronged  with 
holiday  makers  and  bathers  in  gay  French  attire. 
From  Trouville  we  followed  the  ocean  road 
which  reminds  one  of  the  famous  Corniche 
Road  from  Nice  to  Cape  Martin  on  the  Riviera, 
so  perilously  near  does  it  follow  the  cliffs  over- 
looking the  sea.  We  passed  without  a  stop 
through  Deauville,  Benerville,  Villers-sur-Mer, 
Auberville,  Beuzeval,  Houlgate  and  Cabourg  in 
rapid  succession,  and  reached  Dives-sur-Mer  in 
less  than  an  hour.  It  is  here  that  the  Inn  of 
Guillaume-le-Conqiierant  is  located,  the  inn  which 
by  common  accord  among  travelers,  is  one  of  the 
most  attractive  and  interesting  in  the  world  and 
one  of  the  three  made  famous  in  Miss  Dodd's 
book.     The  first  impression  is  one  of  disappoint- 

42 


^lons  ti)e  ^icturesique  Coa^t  of  i^ormanlip 

ment,  for  there  is  nothing  in  the  architecture  of 
its  exterior  to  attract  one.  But  once  within  its 
arched  portal  the  fascination  of  the  place  is 
instant  and  everlasting.  Let  me  quote  from 
Anna  Bowman  Dodd: 

"A  group  of  low-gabled  buildings  surrounded 
an  open  court.  All  of  the  buildings  were  tim- 
bered, the  diagonal  beams  of  oak  so  old  they 
were  black  in  the  sun  and  the  snowy  whiteness 
of  fresh  plaster  made  them  seem  blacker  still. 
The  gabled  roofs  w^ere  of  varying  tones  and  tints ; 
some  were  red,  some  mossy  green,  some  as  gray 
as  the  skin  of  a  mouse;  all  were  deeply,  plenti- 
fully furrowed  with  the  washings  of  countless 
rains,  and  they  were  bearded  with  moss.  There 
were  outside  galleries,  beginning  somew^here  and 
ending  anywhere.  There  were  open  and  covered 
outer  stairways  so  laden  with  vines  they  could 
scarce  totter  to  the  low  heights  of  the  chamber 
doors  on  which  they  opened;  and  there  were 
open  sheds  where  huge  farm  wagons  were  rolled 
close  to  the  most  modern  of  Parisian  dog-carts. 
That  not  a  note  of  contrast  might  be  lacking, 
across  the  courtyard  in  one  of  the  windows  be- 
neath a  stairway  there  flashed  the  gleam  of  some 
rich  stained-glass,  spots  of  color  that  were 
repeated,  with  quite  a  different  luster,   in  the 

43 


JHotoring  ^broab 


dappled  haunches  of  rows  of  sturdy  Percherons 
munching  their  meal  in  the  adjacent  stalls.  Add 
to  such  an  ensemble  a  vagrant  multitude  of 
roses,  honeysuckle,  clematis,  and  wistaria  vines, 
all  blooming  in  full  rivalry  of  perfume  and  color; 
insert  in  some  of  the  corners  and  beneath  some 
of  the  older  casemates  archaic  bits  of  sculpture 
— strange  barbaric  features  with  beards  of 
Assyrian  correctness  and  forms  clad  in  the  rigid 
draperies  of  the  early  Jumieges  period  of  the 
sculptor's  art;  lance  above  the  roof -ridges  the 
quaint  polychrome  finials  of  the  earlier  Palissy 
models;  and  crowd  the  rough  cobble-paved 
courtyard  with  a  rare  and  distinguished  as- 
semblage of  flamingoes,  peacocks,  herons,  cock- 
atoos swinging  from  gabled  windows,  and  game- 
cocks that  strut  about  in  company  with  pink 
doves^and  you  have  the  famous  Inn  of  Chiil- 
laume-le-Conquerant !" 

We  had  a  jolly  dinner  party  at  the  Inn  that 
evening,  our  genial  friends  from  Waterbury  and 
ourselves,  our  table  being  set  under  a  rose- 
covered  archway  in  the  garden.  Monsieur  le 
proprietaire  had,  with  the  polish  and  diplomacy 
of  an  ambassador,  suggested  the  various  dishes 
and  wines  to  us.  "They  would  be  just  to  our 
liking,  he  was  confident,  and  it  was  so  fortunate 

44 


It  was  with  the  keenest  regret  that  we  left  the 
charming  Inn  of  William  the  Conqueror,  the 
must  attractive  place  we  found  on  our  trip. 


^long  tfje  ^icturegfiue  Coasit  of  i^ormanbp 

that  we  had  arrived  on  the  very  day  when  his 
larder  contained  the  most  deUcious  sole  he  had 
had  for  a  season,  and  not  before  this  summer 
had  he  picked  from  his  garden  sweeter  j)etit  pois.'' 
And  then  the  wines — "How  fortunate  he  felt 
himself  in  having  saved  just  one — perhaps,  oh 
yes!  possibly  two  bottles  of  that  famous  vintage 
which  His  Grace  the  Duke  had  pronounced  the 
finest  he  had  ever  tasted.  Surely  we  should 
have  it  for  w^ere  we  not  honoring  him  by  remain- 
ing to  dine  and  sleep  at  his  modest  Inn."  Oh, 
he  is  a  master,  the  proprietor  of  the  Inn  of 
Guillaume-le-Co7tquerant,  and  he  deserves  the 
success  and  the  fortune  he  has  made. 

While  our  dinner  w^as  being  prepared  we 
visited  the  great  heavy-raftered  kitchen  hung 
with  brightly  polished  Normandy  brass  cooking 
utensils,  and  watched  the  chef  and  his  assistants, 
all  dressed  in  spotless  white  linen,  give  the 
artist  touches  to  the  soups,  the  birds  and  the 
sauces.  We  tarried  long  at  dinner,  for  it  would 
have  been  little  short  of  a  crime  to  have  hurried 
through  such  a  meal,  and  then  had  our  cigars 
and  cafe  noir  at  little  tables  set  in  the  court  under 
the  overhanging,  vine-covered  balconies  upon 
which  the  chambers  opened. 

The   next  morning  we  breakfasted   together 

45 


jHotorins  ^broab 


under  the  rose  arbor  and  afterwards  regretfully 
took  our  leave  of  our  genial  host,  who  stood 
waving  us  adieux,  with  a  grace  known  only  to 
a  Frenchman,  until  we  were  out  of  sight. 

From  Dives  we  followed  the  sea  as  far  as 
Sallenelles  and  then  the  shores  of  the  river  Orne 
inland  to  Caen,  arriving  there  in  time  for  lunch- 
eon at  the  Hotel  Place  Royale.  At  Caen,  which 
is  a  place  with  a  history  running  back  into  the 
earlier  centuries,  we  remained  only  long  enough 
to  visit  the  Ahhaye-aux-Dames  founded  in  1066 
by  Matilda,  the  wife  of  William  the  Conqueror, 
and  the  Ahhaye-aux-Hommes,  founded  at  the 
same  time  by  the  Conqueror,  himself,  as  an 
expiation  for  marrying  each  other  against  the 
laws  which  prohibited  the  marrying  of  cousins. 
These  two  churches  are  at  opposite  ends  of  the 
city  and  aside  from  their  historical  features  are 
not  unusual.  The  thigh  bone  of  the  great  Con- 
queror is  supposed  to  rest  in  St.  Etienne,  the 
Ahhaye-aux-Hommes.  It  is  all  that  is  left  of 
his  remains  for,  according  to  history,  a  Calvin- 
istic  mob  broke  into  his  tomb,  stole  the  remains 
and,  with  the  exception  of  a  thigh  bone  given 
to  a  monk,  lost  or  misplaced  them  later.  This 
thigh  bone,  which  had  been  bought  by  a  specu- 
lator, was  later  brought  back  to  Caen  and  is  now 

46 


^long  tfje  ^icturejfque  Coasft  of  i^ormanbp 

all  that  is  left  of  this  great  man,  who  is  not  only 
associated  for  all  time  with  the  history  of  France 
and  England  but  was  for  a  generation  the  central 
figure  of  the  world  of  diplomacy  and  conquest. 
His  wife  Matilda  was  buried  in  La  Trinite,  the 
Ahhaye-aux-Dames,  the  church  she  constructed, 
and  her  tomb  with  a  part  of  its  original  inscrip- 
tion may  be  seen,  although  her  bones  have  been 
twice  stolen  but  each  time  recovered  and  replaced 
and  are  supposed  to  be  at  the  present  time  within 
its  sacred  confines. 

The  history  of  William  the  Conqueror  and 
Matilda  is  so  closely  interwoven  with  Nor- 
mandy that  it  is  impossible  for  even  the  passing 
motorist  to  escape  the  taking  of  more  or  less 
interest  in  them  and  their  lives.  There  is 
scarcely  an  important  town  in  which  the  Con- 
queror did  not  construct  a  convent — twenty- 
three  are  credited  to  him — a  church,  or  some 
building  which  in  reconstructed  form  still  re- 
mains. 

Leaving  Caen  we  followed  the  Route  Nationale 
to  Bayeaux,  a  run  of  twenty-four  kilometers 
(fifteen  miles).  We  made  it  in  about  thirty 
minutes  because  the  road  was  perfect  and  there 
was  nothing  of  particular  interest  aside  from  the 
many    little    settlements    or    villages    and    the 

47 


iHotoring  i^broab 


walled  farms  so  frequent  in  this  section  of 
Normandy. 

Bayeaux  is  a  sleepy,  old  mediaeval  town  cele- 
brated the  world  over  for  its  much-talked-about 
and  badly  faded  tapestry.  Of  course,  we  had 
to  see  the  tapestry,  for  nobody  would  think  of 
going  to  Bayeaux  without  seeing  it;  thousands 
of  tourists  travel  to  the  town  every  year  for  the 
purpose. 

As  every  one  knows,  this  tapestry,  which  is 
about  eighteen  inches  wide  and  two  hundred 
and  thirty  feet  long,  was  embroidered  by  the 
faithful  Queen  Matilda  while  her  husband, 
William  the  Conqueror,  was  engaged  in  his  seven 
years'  war  with  England  during  the  eleventh 
century.  We  followed  the  history  of  the  war, 
as  depicted  in  the  crude  portraitures  of  Matilda, 
marveled,  with  the  astonishment  which  is  ex- 
pected of  all  who  see  it,  at  her  patience,  and 
after  we  had  tramped  about  halfway  around  it, 
the  men  of  our  party  adjourned  to  the  courtyard 
to  have  a  cigar  while  the  ladies,  with  their 
natural  enjoyment  of  needlework,  followed  the 
story  to  its  end. 

Between  Bayeaux  and  St.  Lo,  our  next  point, 
we  traveled  for  many  miles  through  a  great 
forest   absolutely   devoid   of   human   habitation 

48 


In  many  of  the  French  tou-ns  !ce  had  to  stop 
and  ask  directions  because  the  streets  were  a 
hopeless  enigma  to  us. 


^lons  tfje  picturesque  Coast  of  i^ormanlip 

save  only  the  little  sentry  boxes  a  mile  or  two 
apart  for  the  use  of  the  gendarmes.  It  would 
have  been  a  dreary  place  for  a  breakdown, 
especially  as  night  was  approaching  and  the 
drizzle  of  the  afternoon  was  settling  down  to  a 
steady  rain.  Our  motor  car,  however,  was  as 
usual  dependable,  and  we  pulled  up  without 
incident  at  the  Hotel  de  VUnivers  at  St.  Lo, 
where  we  remained  for  the  night.  Early  the 
next  morning  while  walking  through  one  of  the 
narrow  streets  of  the  town  I  set  out  to  make  a 
photograph  of  the  oddest  traveling  outfit  I  ever 
saw.  A  huge  goat  hitched  with  a  little  donkey 
was  drawing  a  broken-down  old  gypsy  wagon  in 
which  was  a  forlorn  woman  and  a  wild-looking 
man  with  hair  and  beard  at  least  two  feet  long. 
I  had  just  started  to  focus  the  camera  when  the 
man  sprang  at  me  with  a  volley  of  unintelligible 
oaths  and  clenched  fists  which  made  me  con- 
clude that  perhaps  I  had  better  get  along  without 
that  particular  picture. 

From  St.  Lo  to  Avranches,  by  way  of  Cou- 
tances,  is  a  run  of  about  thirty  miles.  In  order 
to  have  an  opportunity  of  studying  the  lesser 
thoroughfares  of  Normandy  and  to  get  farther 
back  into  the  country,  we  followed  the  smallest 
roads,  many  of  them  actually  taking  us  through 

49 


iWotoring  ^broab 


the  dooryards  and  barnyards  of  the  peasants. 
Motor  cars  were  evidently  far  more  of  a  curiosity 
here  than  on  the  roads  which  we  had  previously 
traveled,  and  the  tooting  of  our  horn  or  wail  of 
our  huge  siren  generally  brought  everybody  in 
the  thatched-roof  cottages  to  the  doors,  which 
we  passed  so  close  in  many  instances  that  we 
could  have  jumped  into  the  house  from  the  car. 
In  every  instance,  however,  while  the  motor 
attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention,  we  had  nothing 
but  pleasant  salutations  and  greetings,  notwith- 
standing we  frequently  made  the  flocks  of  geese 
and  chickens  scatter  to  right  and  left,  and  hurried 
the  bunches  of  protesting  pigs  out  of  our  way. 

At  Avranches  we  overtook  our  friends  from 
Waterbury,  who  had  gone  on  the  night  before 
from  Bayeaux  through  to  Avranches  instead  of 
stopping,  as  we  had,  at  St.  Lo.  We  had  much 
difficulty  in  finding  the  Grand  Hotel  de  France 
et  de  Londre,  a  little  house  with  a  big  name, 
where  we  had  agreed  to  meet,  as  it  was  tucked 
in  around  the  corner  of  a  narrow  street  and  was 
approached  through  an  entrance  which  gave  no 
indication  whatever  of  its  being  the  main  ap- 
proach to  the  largest  hotel  of  the  place. 

We  adopted  on  the  outskirts  of  Avranches  our 
usual  plan  of  hiring  a  small  boy  to  ride  with  us 

50 


!3lons  tf)e  IPicturesfrjue  Coasit  of  i^ormanbp 

on  the  car  and  direct  us  to  the  hotel.  We  found 
this  the  best  way  in  every  place  where  we  desired 
to  reach  a  particular  spot,  or  even  go  through 
the  town.  There  are  always  small  boys  to  be 
found  and  their  delight  at  riding  in  the  motor 
is  doubled  by  the  few  centimes  which  they  accept 
with  many  expressions  of  ''Merci,  Monsieur.'' 
In  several  instances,  however,  we  found  that  the 
small  boy  was  up  to  his  pranks  or  else  was  trying 
to  get  a  longer  ride.  In  one  town  in  particular 
a  little  chap  whom  we  had  employed  for  the 
purpose  took  us  no  less  than  four  times  across 
the  town,  and  each  time,  when  we  got  to  the 
outskirts,  would  protest  that  he  did  not  under- 
stand us,  although  from  the  merry  twinkle  in 
his  eye  once  or  twice  discovered,  I  imagine  that 
he  was  enjoying  what  he  thought  was  a  most 
excellent  and  well-executed  joke,  by  which  he 
had  secured  a  long  motor  ride  and  became  the 
envied  of  all  of  his  chums. 

After  an  hour  spent  in  the  attractive  flower- 
filled  courtyard  of  the  hotel  at  Avranches  we 
started  with  our  Waterbury  friends  for  Mont  St. 
Michel. 


51 


Cfjapter  Jfibe 

iWont  ^t  jHicfjel  anb  tf)t 
aaoab  to  ^t.  iHalo 


chapter  jFibe 

<Buv  Viiit  to  iWont  ^t.  iWicfjel  anb  tije  Eoab  to 
^t.  iWalo 

AS  all  roads  lead  to  Rome  so  all  roads  in 
/-%  this  part  of  France  lead  to  Mont  St. 
Michel.  It  is  the  one  great  tourist  and 
excursion  center  to-day,  as  it  was  the  one  great 
citadel  of  ancient  times.  The  Mont  has  been 
so  often  described  that  almost  every  one  is 
familiar  with  its  strategic  position  and  its  par- 
ticular appearance.  In  the  early  times  it  was 
approached  only  by  boat,  except  at  low  tide, 
but  to-day  the  trip  is  made  over  the  superb 
causeway  constructed  across  the  two  miles  of 
sand  bar  at  an  enormous  cost,  and  at  low  tide 
or  high  tide  the  Mont  may  be  reached  now  with 
equal  ease  and  comfort.  The  tide  has  a  rise 
and  fall  here  of  from  forty  to  fifty  feet  and  the 
beach  slopes  so  gradually  that  the  water  recedes 
from  eight  to  twelve  miles.  When  the  tide 
comes  in  it  comes  with  such  speed  that  it  is 

55 


iHotoring  ^broab 


unsafe  to  venture  far  out  upon  the  innocent- 
looking  sands. 

The  first  view  of  the  Mont  from  the  mainland 
is  not  impressive  because  of  the  distance  from 
which  it  is  seen.  It  looks  like  a  huge  spire  out 
in  the  water,  but  as  you  get  near  to  it  and  look 
up  at  it  in  all  its  majesty  the  impression  is 
magnificent  and  indelible. 

Every  square  foot  of  this  mountain  of  rock 
out  in  the  sea  has  apparently  been  built  upon, 
and  tier  after  tier  of  buildings  or  battlements 
have  been  constructed  until  the  top  is  reached; 
upon  which  stands  the  beautiful  Abbey  crowned 
by  a  spire  reaching  a  hundred  feet  above  the 
minarets  of  the  roof-line.  As  you  look  up  at 
the  Mont  from  its  base  you  are  so  impressed 
with  its  enormous  height  and  narrowness  that 
you  cannot  avoid  the  impression  that  some  of 
these  houses  are  likely  to  slip  off  the  side  and  go 
tobogganing  down  into  the  sea. 

There  is  no  other  spot  in  the  world  just  like 
Mont  St.  Michel.  It  has  an  individuality  en- 
tirely its  own,  although  its  little  terrace  gardens 
overlooking  the  sea  remind  one  of  Sorrento  and 
Capri;  but  its  charm  is  largely  neutralized  by 
the  fact  that  it  is  overrun  by  thousands  of  ex- 
cursionists   and    tourists.     From    the    moment 

56 


5  ^ 


&3      00 

c  ■~ 


S   3 


iWont  ^t.  iWicfjel  anb  B>t  JWalo 

you  put  foot  inside  the  Porte  du  Roi  until  you 
leave  you  are  being  importuned  to  buy  all  sorts 
of  knick-knacks  and  souvenirs,  post  cards  or 
photographs.  Its  restaurants  are  all  represented 
by  "barkers"  who  stand  on  the  outside  and  try  to 
get  your  patronage,  and  even  after  you  escape 
from  the  single  street  at  the  base  of  the  mountain 
and  climb  far  up  toward  its  summit,  where  you 
think  you  are  out  of  the  atmosphere  of  trade  and 
commerce,  you  are  cajoled  into  a  museum  and  not 
allowed  to  escape  without  being  importuned  to 
buy  cheap  jewelry  and  other  novelties. 

But,  despite  all  these  distractions,  despite  the 
hard  climb  which  every  one  who  visits  the  Mont 
must  take,  the  view  from  its  summit  and  the 
magnificence  of  its  Abbey,  the  original  of  which 
was  constructed  by  Bishop  Aubert  in  700,  fully 
compensate  for  the  time  and  labor.  Under- 
neath the  Abbey  v/e  were  shown  the  horrible 
dungeons  with  which  the  rock  is  honeycombed, 
and  lifelike  images  of  many  of  the  celebrated 
prisoners  formerly  kept  there,  which  have  been 
placed  in  many  of  the  cells  to  add  to  the  grew- 
someness  of  the  place.  It  is  a  wonderful  spot 
which  no  one  going  to  Normandy  should  fail 
to  see,  and  while  the  fame  of  the  omelettes 
and    roast    chicken    still    prepared    and    served 

57 


JHotoring  ^ijroab 


personally  by  the  gracious  Poulard  Aine  divides 
the  fame  of  the  place  with  its  architecture  and 
history,  there  remains  so  much  of  beauty,  so 
much  of  historical  lore  that  one  could  remain 
for  several  days  and  enjoy  every  hour. 

As  there  was  so  great  a  crowd  at  the  Mont  we 
decided  to  push  on  to  St.  Malo  that  night,  a  run 
of  only  about  two  hours,  and  so  retraced  our 
steps  to  the  garage  where  we  had  left  our  motors. 
The  garage  consists  of  a  narrow  strip  of  beach 
outside  of  the  old  stone  gate  of  the  Mont.  The 
automobiles  for  some  reason  are  not  allowed 
to  remain  on  the  causeway  which  ends  at  the 
Mont,  but  are  compelled  to  go  dow^n  and  park 
on  the  sand.  We  did  not  discover  why  this 
was  necessary  unless  it  was  to  enable  the  keeper 
of  the  garage  to  exact  from  us  a  tip  of  a  franc 
for  his  supposed  watchfulness  of  our  motor,  lest 
it  should  sail  off  into  the  ocean  while  we  w^ere 
within  the  walled  town. 

The  run  from  Mont  St.  Michel  took  us  back 
over  the  causeway  to  Pontorson  on  the  mainland, 
and  thence  through  the  quaint  little  city  of  Dol, 
the  first  city  we  entered  in  Brittany,  for  the 
River  Couesnon,  which  we  crossed  at  Pontorson, 
is  the  dividing  line  between  the  two  provinces, 
Normandy  and  Brittany. 

58 


iWont  ^t  iWicfjel  anti  M,  JHalo 

We  approached  St.  Malo  just  at  evening,  and 
it  made  one  of  the  most  pleasant  impressions 
upon  us  of  any  of  the  towns  visited  on  our  trip. 
The  rain,  which  had  been  nothing  short  of  a 
downpour  during  our  run,  had  ceased  and  the 
evening  sun  was  setting  a  thousand  windows  of 
the  town  ablaze. 

St.  Malo  is  one  of  the  few  mediaeval  towns  of 
France.  It  is  entirely  surrounded  by  an  ancient 
wall  still  maintained  in  a  perfect  state  of  preserva- 
tion. We  entered  the  town  through  the  Porte 
St.  Vincent,  an  immense  archway  through  the 
ramparts  guarded  by  soldiers,  and  found  our 
hotel,  the  Hotel  de  France  et  Chateaubriand ^ 
only  a  few  hundred  yards  distant.  This  is  one 
of  the  most  delightful  hotels  in  Normandy  and 
we  were  soon  comfortably  located  in  a  very 
attractive  suite  of  rooms  overlooking  the  sea. 
Almost  under  our  windows  were  the  great  ram- 
parts of  the  town,  with  a  wide  promenade  along 
the  top.  These  ramparts  entirely  encircle  the 
old  city  and  the  promenade  forms  an  interesting 
walk,  especially  when  one  realizes  that  the 
structure  is  a  relic  of  the  sixteenth  centuiy,  and 
that  countless  hordes  have  been  tramping  its 
flagging  for  several  centuries.  From  our  win- 
dows we  could  see  Grand-Bey  Island,  the  chief 

59 


[otoring  ^broab 


feature  of  which  is  the  soUtary  grave  of  the  great 
Chateaubriand,  who,  with  becoming  pomp,  was 
interred  there  because  of  his  wish  to  rest  near 
the  ever-changing  sea  which  rises  and  falls  here 
thirty  feet  with  every  tide. 

We  found  St.  Malo  very  much  to  our  liking. 
Our  hotel  was  excellent  and  this  always  regulates 
to  a  greater  or  lesser  extent  one's  impression  of 
a  place.  The  town  is  literally  crowned  with 
fortifications  and  still  takes  pride  in  the  fact 
that  it  defied  all  the  efforts  of  the  English  to 
capture  it.  It  is  limited  in  area  to  the  space 
within  its  great  walls,  so  that  every  available  foot 
of  ground  is  built  upon  and  its  houses  have 
been  built  higher  than  in  any  other  place  in 
France.  There  is  room  only  for  a  limited  popu- 
lation in  St.  Malo,  and,  as  a  consequence,  St. 
Servan  across  the  harbor  on  one  side,  and  Dinard 
across  the  River  Ranee  on  the  other,  have  taken 
over  and  profited  by  the  surplus  population. 
The  former  place  is  reached  by  a  platform  bridge 
which  moves  by  steam  power  back  and  forth 
across  the  harbor  upon  rails  laid  at  the  bottom 
of  the  bay,  the  passengers  being  forty  feet  above 
the  rails  and  on  a  level  with  the  land.  It  is  a 
curious  sight  to  see  this  elevated  platform  upon 
steel  stilts  moving  through  the  water  by  a  power 

60 


The  public  laundries  along  the  rirer  front  are 

institutions  of  mariii  French  towns. 


iHont  ^t.  iHicfjel  anb  ^t.  iHalo 

which  is  unseen,  but  is  really  supplied  by  a  sta- 
tionary engine  on  the  St.  Servan  side.  Because 
of  the  enormous  tides  on  this  part  of  the  coast 
all  the  quays  at  St.  Malo  are  built  of  stone  and 
on  a  slope  to  accommodate  the  small  steamers. 
Otherwise  at  low  tide  it  would  take  an  elevator 
to  get  people  up  on  the  quay  from  their  decks. 
St.  Malo's  shops  and  streets  are  quaint  and 
interesting.  The  latter  are  narrow  and  filled 
with  people,  the  walls  echoing  with  the  clatter 
of  the  sabots  of  the  peasants.  In  the  evening 
the  park-like  plaza  near  the  Porte  St.  Vincent 
was  gay  with  the  music-loving  populace  who 
filled  the  sidewalks  and  a  large  portion  of  the 
pavement,  sitting  at  the  little  round  tables  and 
listening  to  the  female  orchestras  of  the  rival 
cafes.  These  female  orchestras  are  an  institution 
of  France.  We  found  them  in  almost  every 
town  and  their  playing  was  exceptionally  good. 
We  patronized  several  of  the  cafes  and  found 
them  generally  most  satisfactory.  Here,  as  in 
almost  all  provincial  towns  in  France,  the  w^aiters 
serve  your  drinks  in  glasses  set  upon  saucers 
upon  which,  burned  in  under  the  glazing,  is  the 
price  you  are  to  pay  the  waiter.  This  saves  all 
disputes  and  as  the  price  named  on  the  saucers 
is  charged  up  against  the  waiter  when  he  receives 

61 


lotoring  ^broab 


them  it  enables  the  proprietor  to  get  all  that  is 
coming  to  him. 

Dinard,  opposite  St.  Malo,  is  one  of  the  most 
fashionable  French  resorts,  largely  patronized 
by  English  people  and  the  aristocrats  of  France. 
Its  hotels  are  flagrant  in  their  garishness  while 
its  villas  are  stiff  and  pretentious.  Dinard  is 
ultra-fashionable,  and  one  can  find  there,  if 
looking  for  it,  about  as  gay  social  life  as  any- 
where in  France. 


62 


i5ormanbp  anb  ISrittanp 
tBtituni 


^  -5 


^   s 


chapter  ^ix 
tKlje  Cfjaracterifiitics!  of  j^ormanbp  anti  Prittanp 

THE  sea  along  the  northern  coast  of  Nor- 
mandy seems  to  smile  rather  than  frown; 
to  caress  rather  than  smite;  for  at  no 
place  are  there  evidences  of  the  fierce  combat 
between  surf  and  shore  line  which  mark  almost 
the  entire  coast  of  Brittany.  It  seems  to  be 
ever  a  land  of  sunshine  and  prosperity,  the  fields, 
reaching  to  the  very  edge  of  the  sea,  fertile  and 
heavy  laden  with  the  luxuriance  of  nature.  In 
and  out  among  them,  passing  every  few  miles 
through  some  quaint  little  weather-beaten  town, 
winds  the  main  road.  For  miles  it  hugs  the 
shore  line  and  gives  one  such  a  succession  of 
glorious  views  that  it  seems  a  pity  to  leave  them 
with  no  greater  appreciation  than  a  passing 
exclamation. 

We  counted  the  trip  along  the  coast  from 
Honfleur  to  St.  Malo  alone  worth  the  trip  to 
Europe.     Those  automobilists  who  think  they 

65 


iHotorins  ^liroab 


are  seeing  Normandy  and  Brittany  when  they 
rush,  as  many  of  them  do,  from  Paris  through 
Evreux,  Lisieux  and  Caen  to  St.  Malo  and  its 
sister  resort,  Dinard,  are  *'doing"  the  country  as 
many  of  our  American  tourists  do  Europe,  on 
the  hop,  skip  and  jump;  too  busy  and  too 
hurried  to  enjoy  the  really  delightful  things 
which  go  to  make  the  trip  most  enjoyable. 

Normandy  and  Brittany  towns  have  a  quiet 
sweetness  in  which  the  strident  call  of  commerce 
and  the  bustle  and  noise  of  our  American  towns 
are  strangers.  Wherever  commercial  activity 
comes  in  the  charm  goes  out.  There  is  little 
striking  in  the  contrast  between  the  country  and 
the  small  towns.  You  leave  the  brilliant-colored 
poppies  in  the  fields  to  meet  the  timid,  open-eyed 
children  in  the  village  streets  and  you  simply 
exchange  the  peasants  working  at  the  roadside 
for  the  white-capped  women  knitting  in  their 
doorways,  and  the  men,  wooden-sabotted  and 
clad  in  blouses  and  baggy  trousers,  at  their  work. 
There  are  no  striking  contrasts  between  country 
and  village  such  as  we  are  accustomed  to  in  this 
country.  A  Normandy  or  Brittany  village  is 
but  a  cluster  of  thatch-roofed  cottages,  pictur- 
esquely set  amid  the  trees  and  fields. 

The  larger  places  of  course,  lose  from  very 

66 


necessity  the  pastoral  features  of  the  villages, 
but  in  them  you  see  nothing  of  the  broken-down 
and  often  filthy  outlying  portions  observable  as 
you  approach  most  American  cities.  If  the  sec- 
tion is  one  of  poverty  it  will  be  picturesque — 
not  made  hideous  with  the  dumpings  of  the 
town's  refuse.  Neatness  and  attempt  at  beauti- 
fying are  observable  everywhere. 

Even  in  the  country  we  found  the  edges  of  the 
roads  and  the  rows  of  trees  often  trimmed  with 
care.  No  family  is  so  poor  that  it  cannot  have 
some  bright  flowers  in  window  boxes  and  a 
greater  variety  in  the  always-present  little  garden. 
One  of  the  most  notable  features  of  both  town 
and  country  is  the  absolute  lack  of  idleness. 
Thrift  and  industry  are  written  everywhere. 
These  are  characteristic  of  the  French  people  and 
show  in  their  governmental  balance  sheet,  for 
France  has  not  one  cent  of  bonded  indebtedness 
held  by  any  one  except  French  people.  When 
Bismarck  levied  a  war  indemnity  on  France 
after  the  Franco-Prussian  War  in  1870,  so  great 
that  it  was  thought  that  it  would  take  France 
generations  to  pay  it,  it  was  paid  "out  of  the 
stockings"  of  the  masses  with  a  promptness  that 
surprised  the  world. 

Another  charm  of  France  is  the  perfection  of 

67 


otorins  i^broab 


its  small  hotels  and  inns.  What  is  the  national 
secret  which  the  French  people  possess  which 
enables  the  smallest  wayside  inn  to  set  before 
you  a  dainty,  well-cooked  meal,  well  served  and 
appetizing,  and  a  palatable  wine  of  the  country 
at  such  a  trifling  cost  ?  Some  writer  has  referred 
to  the  *'divine  gift  of  cookery."  It  certainly  has 
not  been  inborn  with  the  American  as  it  has 
been  with  the  French.  We  found  no  village  so 
small  that  we  could  not  get  in  it  at  insignificant 
cost  a  well-prepared  meal  of  appetizing,  daintily 
served  dishes. 

All  of  the  larger  towns  have  two  distinct 
phases — the  modern  and  the  ancient.  This  is 
illustrated  in  the  old  portion  of  most  towns, 
where  the  houses  are  so  old  that  often  their 
tops  almost  lean  against  each  other  across  the 
narrow  streets.  In  the  modern  portion  you  will 
usually  find  handsome  shops,  artistic  architecture 
and  beautiful  residences. 

There  are  certain  characteristics  in  the  French 
cities  which  are  alike  in  every  town,  large  or 
small.  The  chief  point  of  interest  is  always  the 
cathedral.  These  vary  in  magnificence  from 
the  Notre  Dame  in  Paris,  the  Grand  Cathedral 
in  Rheims  and  the  St.  Ouen  at  Rouen,  to  the 
little,  quaint  structures   in  the  far-off  towns  of 

68 


iitf  H 


There  is  ereri/lhing  jar  sale  i)i  the  markets 
from  lares  to  cattle,  and  these  bazaars  furnish 
an  excellent  place  for  countryside  yossi)). 


i^ormanljp  anti  Prittanj>  ^otons; 

Brittany.  But,  great  or  small,  every  city  or 
town  has  a  pretentious  church,  with  its  customary 
statues  and  classic  architecture. 

Another  invariable  feature  of  the  French  town, 
and  incidentally  one  of  its  most  attractive  ones, 
is  the  market  place,  which  appears  to  be  the 
social  as  well  as  the  commercial  center  for 
the  peasants  of  the  surrounding  country.  No 
one  ever  seems  particularly  anxious  to  sell  in 
these  markets.  You  will  see  the  women,  alP 
wearing  their  white  caps  and  wooden  shoes,  with 
umbrellas  over  them,  sitting  in  their  stalls 
knitting  and  gossiping,  and  chattering  away 
like  magpies,  while  blue-bloused  men  stand  in 
groups  discussing  in  an  animated  way,  but 
apparently  regardless  of  whether  purchases  of 
the  sleek  cattle  offered  for  sale  are  made  or  not. 
There  are  no  better  places  to  see  and  study 
people  than  in  these  market  places.  You  will 
find  on  sale  in  any  of  them  not  only  vegetables 
and  products  of  the  dairy,  but  calicoes,  shoes, 
velvets,  coats,  lingerie,  bonnets,  and  confections, 
all  in  one  heterogeneous  combination. 

The  visitor  lives  very  well  in  Normandy  and 
Brittany,  even  at  the  smallest  inns.  Of  course, 
the  fish  are  as  fine  as  can  be  found  in  the  world 
and  in  great  variety.     In  season  you  will  get 

69 


iWotoring  ^broab 


excellent  oysters  and  you  rarely  find  an  inn  so 
small  that  it  does  not  have  a  dish  of  appetizing 
crevettes,  or  shrimp,  among  the  hors  d'oeuvres. 
The  meats  are  invariably  good;  chicken  is 
omnipresent.  One  rarely  gets  wine  on  the  table 
in  this  part  of  France,  unless  it  is  specifically 
ordered,  as  little  wine  is  made  in  Normandy  or 
Brittany;  the  drink  of  the  country  is  the  native 
cidre  for  which  no  charge  is  ever  made  at  meals. 
To  those  accustomed  to  American  cider,  the 
French  cidre  is  not  particularly  palatable,  but 
it  is  a  wholesome  drink  and,  after  one  becomes 
accustomed  to  it,  quite  enjoyable  (if  you  like  it). 

Prices  are  invariably  low  except  in  the  larger 
places.  One  can  tour  Normandy,  Brittany  and 
Touraine  and  live  delightfully  at  an  expense  of 
from  ten  to  twelve  francs  ($2.00  to  $2.40)  a  day; 
this  including  your  bed  and  three  meals  with  all 
the  cidre  you  can  drink  thrown  in. 

We  had  been  cautioned  before  we  started  on 
our  trip  not  to  draw  up  at  a  hotel  or  inn  in  our 
motor  as  we  should  immediately  be  considered 
American  millionaires  and  charged  accordingly. 
We  were  told  to  leave  the  motor  some  little  dis- 
tance from  the  inn  and  have  one  of  the  party 
stroll  up  with  a  *'don't-care-whether-I-stay-all- 

night-or-not"   air   and   make   terms   first.     We 

7e 


i^ormanbp  antr  Prittanp  tlTotons; 

soon  found  that  was  needless,  and  after  the  first 
few  days  drove  up  to  the  hotel  or  inn  entrance  with 
the  utmost  abandon  and  still  secured  the  best  ac- 
commodations at  reasonable  prices.  Especially 
was  this  true  when  I  showed  my  membership  card 
in  the  Touring  Club  de  France.  This  member- 
ship, which  cost  me,  as  noted  elsewhere,  a  mere 
trifle,  paid  for  itself  over  and  over  again,  as  there 
is  a  discount  of  from  ten  to  fifteen  per  cent,  given 
at  all  the  hotels  named  in  the  Touring  Club 
list,  which  includes  the  best  in  all  towns.  This 
saving,  of  itself,  with  a  party  of  six,  amounted 
during  our  trip  to  a  considerable  sum. 

Normandy  and  Brittany  together  are  the  land 
of  legends  and  romance,  but  there  is  a  noticeable 
difference  in  the  people.  The  Breton  is  stalwart 
in  stature,  stern  and  serious  in  disposition.  He 
has  hewed  his  life  out  amid  serious  things  and 
along  the  rocky  roads.  His  bronzed  face  looks 
austere,  but  beneath  his  blue  blouse  beats  a 
heart  warm  and  true.  The  primitive  simplicity 
of  his  life  and  the  intenseness  of  his  reli2:ion 
gives  the  Breton  a  short  view  of  the  frivolities 
of  existence.  He  carries  his  religion  into  his 
daily  life  and  work  and  along  all  the  roads  are 
gaudy  crucifixes  which  the  peasants  never  pass 
without  kneeling  and  crossing  themselves. 

71 


iilotorins  ^broab 


It  is  characteristic  of  all  these  Brittany  folk 
that  they  mind  their  own  business.  I  don't 
know  what  the  result  would  be  if  you  were  to 
try  a  joke  on  them.  I  should  be  afraid  to  under- 
take it.  Life  is  a  serious  problem  to  the  Breton. 
It  is  homespun  for  him  even  though  the  rest  of 
France  may  be  arrayed  in  silks.  He  has  worked 
out  an  existence  against  great  odds  and  it  has 
given  him  a  character  and  physique  which  makes 
him  notable  among  his  fellow  countrymen. 

These  features  are  also  characteristics  of  the 
Normandy  folk,  but  to  a  less  degree.  They 
have  prospered  more  than  their  Breton  brothers, 
their  lands  yield  them  easier  and  greater  harvests, 
and  they  are  a  little  closer  in  touch  with  the 
world  outside.  But,  taking  them  both  side  by 
side,  they  outmeasure  in  every  point  of  compari- 
son their  brothers  in  corresponding  walks  of  life 
in  the  rest  of  France. 

One  no  sooner  crosses  into  Brittany  than  the 
change  in  the  topography  is  noticeable.  As  you 
proceed  westward  toward  Brest  (a  trip  which  we 
did  not  make)  there  are  long  stretches  of  uninter- 
esting road,  the  country  growing  more  and  more 
rugged  and  barren  as  you  approach  this  great 
shoulder  of  France,  which  braces  itself  against  the 
ravages  and  mighty  tides  of  the  Atlantic. 

72 


chapter  ^eben 
QTiirougf)  i^omantic  iSrittanp 


chapter  g)eben 

Jfrom  ^t.  iHalo  ^outfj  ^fjrougfj  3i^mantic 
Prittanp 

FROM  St.  Malo  our  route  took  us  almost 
due  south  through  quaint  old  Dinan  to 
Rennes,  the  ancient  capital  of  Brittany, 
which  we  reached  after  a  delightful  run  of  about 
four  hours.  We  stopped  here  at  the  Hotel 
Moderne  facing  the  river  Vilaine,  and  as  it  was 
Saturday  night  we  put  in  the  evening  on  the 
streets  and  in  the  various  cafes  where  we  could 
listen  to  the  music  and  study  the  people.  Nearly 
every  cafe  had  its  female  orchestra,  composed 
of  fair  French  damsels  dressed  in  white.  They 
played  near  the  open  doorway  or  out  on  the 
sidewalks  surrounded  by  the  people  sitting  at 
the  small  tables  which,  usually  at  all  these 
French  cafes,  stretch  far  out  into  the  street. 

Although  the  next  day  was  Sunday,  we  got 
an  early  start  and  made  the  longest  run  of  our 
entire  trip,  covering  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
three  miles.     Our  morning  run,  without  a  stop, 

75 


iHotorins  ^broab 


took  us  through  Plelan  and  Ploermel  to  the 
interesting  old  town  of  Vannes,  where  we  had 
a  deUcious  huicheon  at  the  Hotel  DaupJmi. 
We  were  greatly  entertained  here  by  a  large 
wedding  party  which  was  having  a  jolly  time, 
utterly  unmindful  of  the  presence  of  Americans, 
or  any  one  but  themselves. 

During  the  day  we  met  many  families  home- 
ward bound-  from  church  in  their  big-wheeled 
carts  drawn  by  sturdy  horses.  These  carts,  like 
the  New  York  street  cars,  always  afford  room 
for  one  more,  and  we  counted  as  many  as  eleven 
people  in  one  cart,  all  dressed  in  the  customary 
garb  of  Brittany;  the  men  with  their  wide- 
brimmed  straw  hats,  with  the  broad  black-velvet 
ribbons  hanging  down  behind,  and  the  women 
with  their  best  Sunday  caps.  It  was  noticeable 
that  the  horses  did  not  pay  the  slightest  atten- 
tion to  our  motor,  nor  did  any  of  the  people, 
other  than  to  give  us  a  serious  nod  as  we  went 
spinning  by  them. 

During  the  forenoon  we  passed  through  a 
number  of  little  villages,  all  of  which  had  their 
churches,  toward  several  of  which  the  Pardon 
parade  was  wending  its  way.  The  Pardon  is 
characteristic  of  Brittany.  It  is  a  religious 
festival  to  which  the  people  come  from  long  dis- 

76 


]\'hcn  we  reached  the  great  Druidical  slunrs  at 
Carnac  the  Brittany  children  were  anxious  to 
show  MS  everything  of  interest. 


Jfrom  ^t.  iHalo  Ctjrougf)  Pn'ttanp 


tances,  and  it  is  so  closely  interwoven  with  the 
history  of  Brittany  that  many  volumes  have 
been  written  descriptive  of  it.  We  each  expressed 
a  wish  to  remain  long  enough  to  attend  some  of 
these  novel  and  interesting  services,  but  had  to 
satisfy  ourselves  with  a  cursory,  passing  glance 
at  the  processions,  in  which  many  striking  ban- 
ners w^ere  borne.  Just  what  these  banners  typify 
I  do  not  know,  but  they  add  a  characteristic 
picturesqueness  to  the  scene. 

In  front  of  nearly  all  of  the  little  churches 
which  we  passed,  and  some  of  the  more  preten- 
tious ones,  there  were  temporary  booths  for 
the  sale  of  all  sorts  of  articles,  including  hats, 
socks,  calicoes,  and  other  dress  goods,  as  well  as 
articles  for  the  farm.  It  seems  to  be  quite  the 
custom  in  Brittany  to  attend  divine  service  first 
and  then  barter  for  such  goods  as  might  be 
needed,  after  the  religious  services  are  finished. 

\\Tien  we  left  Vannes  we  went  by  the  most 
direct  road  to  Auray,  about  a  half-hour's  run, 
and  there  turned  southwest  toward  Carnac 
down  by  the  coast  which  we  reached  about  an 
hour  after  leaving  Vannes.  We  were  eager  to 
see  the  Druidical  monuments  known  as  Menhirs 
and  Dolmens,  the  great  stones  of  mythological 
age.     These  and  the  Giant's  Causeway,  which 


iWotoring  ^broab 


we  visited  later  in  Ireland,  are  two  of  the  most 
wonderful  things  in  the  world — one  erected  by 
man  and  the  other  a  creation  of  Nature.  The 
hotel  manager  at  Vannes  had  given  us  a  little 
map  which  enabled  us  to  go  directly  to  the  most 
interesting  part  of  these  enormous  fields  of  rock, 
taking  in  Ploermel  and  Plouharnel  on  the  way. 

The  story  of  these  stones — as  to  what  they 
are;  what  kind  of  people  put  them  there;  why 
and  when  they  were  put  there — has  never  been 
told  and  probably  never  will  be.  They  are 
practically  as  prehistoric  as  the  formation  of  the 
world,  and  as  we  drove  our  motor  car,  a  symbol 
of  the  latest  creation  of  man,  out  on  the  moors 
among  these  tokens  of  the  musty  ages,  a  feeling 
unlike  anything  which  we  had  ever  felt  before 
came  over  the  entire  party.  Here  was  an  illus- 
tration of  the  spanning  of  time.  Here  on  the 
very  spot  where  the  first  known  labor  of  man  is 
exhibited  stood  also  his  latest  production — one 
the  work  of  a  people  unknown,  the  other  the 
most  recent  effort  of  the  most  modern  nation  on 
earth. 

The  pyramids  of  Egypt  have  a  history  which 
has  been  unraveled  and  written  by  archaeologists. 
Pompeii  is  relatively  modern;  the  statues  of 
Rameses  and  the  art  of  the  Nile  are  as  open 

78 


Jfrom  ^t.  iHalo  (E^trougfj  Prittanp 


books  compared  with  the  history  of  these  great 
rocks. 

The  Menhirs  and  Dolmens  are  scattered  all 
about  the  section  south  of  Auray,  but  down  near 
Carnac  there  are  three  groups  set  in  lines  as 
straight  as  a  modern  engineer  could  draw  them 
and  forming  nine  or  ten  avenues.  There  are 
874  in  one  of  the  rows,  855  in  another  and  262 
in  a  third;  it  is  said  there  were  15,000  originally. 
The  stones,  which  are  equal  distances  apart, 
vary  in  height  from  three  to  twenty  feet,  the 
largest  having  an  estimated  weight  of  forty  to 
fifty  tons.  No  stone  of  the  same  geological  forma- 
tion is  found  nearer  than  three  hundred  miles  and 
the  mystery  of  their  being  placed  here  will  proba- 
bly never  be  solved.  Like  many  other  unusual 
prehistoric  things  there  are  many  legends  con- 
nected with  these  stones.  One  is  that  they  were 
hurled  from  the  moon  by  Beelzebub  at  the  people 
living  there  with  whom  he  was  displeased. 
Another  has  it  that  St.  Cornely,  pursued  by 
enemies,  reached  the  sea  and  as  he  could  go  no 
farther,  appealed  to  Heaven  for  help  and  was 
given  power  to  turn  all  the  soldiers  chasing  him 
to  stone,  and  they  have  been  there  ever  since. 

One  of  the  interesting  features  of  our  visit 
was  our  meeting  on  the  road  ten  or  a  dozen  little 

79 


iWotorins  ^broab 


Breton  boys  and  girls,  who  made  us  understand 
that  if  we  wanted  to  take  the  best  road  to  the 
stones  they  would  direct  us.  We  told  them  to 
climb  aboard  and  they  swarmed  in  on  us  so  that 
every  part  of  the  car,  including  both  running 
boards,  was  occupied,  jabbering  to  us  in  their 
vernacular  French  of  which  we  could  not  under- 
stand a  word.  They  were  all  neatly  dressed  and 
clean  and  seemed  to  enjoy  the  ride  hugely,  en- 
tertaining- us  after  we  reached  the  field  by 
climbing  up  on  the  stones  and  trying  to  point 
out  interesting  things  to  us.  When  we  started 
to  leave  and  our  own  party  had  gotten  into  the 
car  the  children,  without  formal  invitation,  all 
climbed  aboard  again,  for  another  ride  back  to 
the  place  where  we  picked  them  up.  As  we 
finally  bade  good-bye  to  our  little  friends  w^e 
turned  our  "Loco"  toward  Nantes,  about  eighty 
miles  away,  where  we  intended  to  spend  the 
night. 

Our  run  back  through  Vannes  and  then  on 
through  Muzillac,  LaRoche-Bernard,  Pontcha- 
teau  and  Savenay  to  Nantes  on  that  glorious 
Sunday  afternoon  will  never  be  forgotten.  The 
road  was  perfect  and  almost  as  straight  as  an 
arrow  would  fly.  W^e  reeled  off  mile  after  mile 
through  an   unending  arbor   of   trees,    the  car 

80 


^    a 


—   e 


"purring",  as  one  of  my  daughters  expressed  it, 
as  it  spun  along  over  roads  as  smooth  as  a  tiled 
floor.  It  was  roller-coasting  most  of  the  way. 
Down  a  long  hill  where  we  would  gain  the 
maximum  speed  and  then  up  another  hill  to 
coast  down  the  farther  side;  past  thatched-roof 
cottages  and  fields  of  wheat,  heavy-headed  for 
the  harvest;  through  villages  and  forests,  on  we 
sped  catching  kaleidoscopic  glimpses  only, 
but  enjoying  to  the  fullest  the  glorious  flight 
from  the  sea,  which  we  had  left  at  Carnac,  to 
the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Loire,  the  sister  river 
of  the  Seine  in  the  affections  of  the  French 
people. 

We  had  no  difficulty  in  finding  the  Hotel  de 
France  at  Nantes,  one  of  the  best  houses,  by  the 
way,  we  stopped  at  in  France.  Its  proprietor, 
who  has  the  art  of  being  "mine  host"  most  agree- 
ably and  acceptably,  has  made  the  hotel  one  of 
of  the  most  perfect  in  every  detail.  It  is  beau- 
tifully decorated,  has  modern  bathrooms  and  a 
cuisine  which  will  long  be  remembered  by  any 
visitor.  Adjoining  the  house,  which  is  on  the 
public  square,  is  the  largest  cafe  in  Nantes,  and 
it  being  Sunday  evening,  the  little  tables  had 
been  placed  far  out  into  the  square.  The  or- 
chestra was  playing   and   altogether  the   scene 

81 


ittotorins  ^broab 


formed  one  of  those  charming  effects  impossible 
anywhere  except  in  France. 

We  spent  only  a  night  and  a  day  in  Nantes, 
and  as  we  left  I  asked  the  proprietor  to  give  us 
directions  for  following  the  most  direct  route 
out  of  the  city  on  our  way  to  Tours,  the  capital 
of  Touraine.  As  illustrating  the  minute  atten- 
tion given  to  details  for  the  convenience  of  his 
guests  he  handed  me  a  little  outline  map  which 
showed  the  route  so  plainly  that  w^e  had  no 
difficulty  whatever  in  finding  our  way  out  of  the 
city  and  on  to  the  main  road. 

We  had  expected  to  reach  Tours  that  night, 
but  were  caught  soon  after  leaving  Nantes  in  a 
blinding  rain  storm,  which  continued  with  such 
persistency  that  we  were  obliged  for  safety's 
sake  to  run  very  slowly,  the  rain  beating  so  hard 
against  the  window  of  the  apron  of  our  hood 
that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  see  through  it. 
We  took  the  main  road  on  the  north  side  of  the 
river  through  Ancenis  and  \  arades,  crossing  the 
river  at  Loire  to  Montjean  to  shorten  the  run 
by  saving  the  detour  made  by  the  main  thorough- 
fare through  Angers.  We  found  the  roads 
excellent,  notwithstanding  they  were  not  main 
lines  of  travel.  In  passing  through  one  of  the 
little  villages  we  had  our  nearest  approach  to  an 

82 


It    was   Sunday    afternoon    and    the    Brittany 
folk   were   gathered  about   the   village   well  for 

friendly  gossip. 


jTrom  ^t.  illalo  i:trousf)  Prittanp 

accident.  A  demure-looking  horse  tied  to  the 
back  of  a  cart  whirled  around  just  as  we  were 
passing,  let  fly  both  heels  and  came  within  a 
foot  of  hitting  one  of  our  party  squarely  on  the 
head.  The  idea  of  being  injured  by  a  horse's 
kick  while  touring  in  a  motor  was  so  absurd  that 
it  took  the  edge  off  the  seriousness  of  the 
occurrence. 

It  was  just  about  dark,  the  storm  had  stopped 
and  the  sky  was  clearing,  when  we  reached 
Saumur,  and  we  decided  that  we  had  better 
remain  there  all  night.  The  Hotel  Buclan, 
which  we  had  selected,  had  a  most  uninviting 
aspect  itself,  although  it  was  directly  facing  the 
beautiful  river  and  adjoining  the  bridge  spanning 
it;  but  this  house,  like  many  others  in  France, 
is  not  to  be  judged  by  its  exterior.  We  found 
the  rooms  most  comfortable  and  the  obliging 
proprietor,  although  we  were  late  for  the  regular 
evening  meal,  prepared  and  served  for  us  a 
delicious  repast,  which,  after  our  long  ride  of 
the  afternoon,  we  devoured  like  hungry  wolves. 
We  found  our  rooms  furnished  in  antique 
furniture  that  would  set  the  heart  of  the  con- 
noisseur palpitating.  There  was  one  piece  par- 
ticularly that  struck  our  fancy,  and  I  began  a 
flirtation  with  the  proprietor  to  know  whether 

83 


iWotoring  ^tiroab 


he  would  sell  it.  Well,  yes,  he  might  sell  it, 
although  he  had  never  set  a  price  upon  it.  An 
American  had  offered  him  fifteen  thousand 
francs  for  it  last  year,  but  he  had  not  cared  to 
let  it  go  at  that  price.  Being  in  Europe  with  a 
family  and  an  automobile  on  my  hands,  I  im- 
mediately suspended  negotiations. 

Saumur  is  known  for  the  excellence  of  its  wines, 
its  great  Government  cavalry  school  at  which 
there  are  four  hundred  cadets,  and  the  ruins  of 
the  chateau  of  the  Queen  of  Sicily,  built  for  her 
by  King  Rene  in  the  fifteenth  century. 

Early  the  next  morning  we  were  off  for  Chinon, 
all  eager  to  get  our  first  glimpse  of  a  real  chateau, 
for  we  were  now  approaching  the  far-famed 
chateau  section  of  the  Loire,  the  locality  of  all 
others  most  closely  associated  with  the  kingly 
history  of  France. 


84 


Cfjapter  €igf)t 
3n  tf)e  Cfjattau  Country 


chapter  Cigftt 

3n  tfje  IJeart  of  tlje  Cftateau  Countrp  anb  tf)e 
^allep  of  tije  Hoire 


K 


FTER  leaving  Saumur  we  followed  the 
wooded  valley  of  the  Loire  for  about 
fifteen  miles  and  then  motored  along 
the  attractive  shores  of  one  of  its  tributaries,  the 
Vienne,  to  Chinon,  a  brisk  little  town  about 
nine  miles  from  the  junction  of  the  river  with 
the  Loire.  As  we  crossed  the  old  stone  bridge 
we  stopped  to  look  down  upon  a  small  army  of 
the  village  housewives  doing  their  week's  wash- 
ing in  the  river.  These  public  laundries,  which 
look  like  houseboats,  are  one  of  the  features  of 
French  towns;  that  at  Chinon  being  quite  a 
pretentious  affair  two  stories  high.  The  peasant 
women  kneel  at  the  edge  of  the  platform,  having 
in  front  of  them  their  rubbing  boards,  and 
dip  the  clothes  in  the  swift-running  stream,  in 
the  meantime  chattering  among  themselves  like 
a  flock  of  excited  magpies,  dispensing,  I  suppose, 
all  the  latest  gossip  of  the  town. 

87 


i^lotortns  ^broati 


A  tree-fringed  quay  runs  along  the  river  bank 
and,  towering  over  the  quaint  old  houses  which 
almost  lean  against  each  other  on  each  side  of 
the  narrow,  crooked  streets,  are  the  ruins  of  the 
noble  chateau  which  has  made  Chinon  historic. 

The  site  on  which  it  was  built  is  such  a  com- 
manding one  that  the  Romans  erected  a  fort 
upon  it  and  strongly  fortified  it  during  the  period 
of  their  occupation.  The  chateau  was  formed 
by  what  were  really  three  distinct  castles  built 
in  the  eleventh  century.  One  was  occupied  by 
Jeanne  D'Arc,  Here  lived,  too,  within  the  now 
ruined  walls,  Louis  XI,  Louis  XII  and  Charles 
VII,  and  here  were  enacted  many  social  scenes 
in  keeping  with  the  great  splendor  of  the  times. 
There  is  little  left  to  interest  now  except  the  ruins 
and  the  view  from  the  ramparts,  which  latter  ir- 
one  of  the  finest  in  all  France  and  well  worth  the 
hard  climb  one  has  to  take  to  enjoy  it. 

It  is  about  thirteen  miles  from  Chinon  to 
Azay-le-Rideau  and  the  road  leads  for  practically 
the  entire  distance  through  the  heart  of  one  of 
the  many  national  forests  of  France.  As  there 
were  no  villages  between  the  places  and  the 
road  was  broad  and  as  smooth  as  newly  laid 
asphalt,  we  let  our  motor  car  do  its  best  and, 
almost  before  it  had  fairly  settled  down  to  its 


In  some  of  the  narrow  riUage  streets  of  Nor- 
mandy we  had  to  drive  carefulli/  in  passing 
other  motors. 


3n  tfje  i^eart  of  tfje  Cftateau  Country 

work,  we  flew  past  the  scattering  houses  in  the 
quiet  suburbs  of  Azay  and  drew  up  at  the  Hotel 
Grand  Moiiarque,  a  diminutive  house  with  a 
grandiloquent  name,  the  only  public  house  in  the 
quaint  little  town  of  less  than  twenty-five  hun- 
dred inhabitants.  We  left  the  motor  car  in  front 
of  the  hotel  while  we  were  in  at  luncheon.  As 
usual  the  little  American  flag  which  was  pre- 
sented to  us  for  the  purpose  was  fastened  to  one 
of  the  side  lamps,  and  the  trunks  on  the  rack, 
attracted  attention  to  us  as  tourists,  and  when 
we  came  out  the  car  was  surrounded  by  the 
ever-present  gathering  of  gaping  peasants  and 
timid  children.  It  did  not  annoy  us,  however, 
as  we  had  become  thoroughly  accustomed  to 
having  "the  committee  of  a  hundred,"  as  we 
termed  it,  supervise  our  arrival  and  departure 
from  almost  every  place.  Notwithstanding  the 
apparent  interest  in  us,  nowhere  on  our  entire 
trip  did  we  meet  with  the  first  suggestion  of 
impertinence  from  any  one,  nor  w^as  anything 
which  we  had  left  in  the  car  meddled  with  or 
taken. 

The  Chateau  of  Azay-le-Rideau  is  one  of  the 
scenes  we  wish  to  perpetuate  in  memory.  In 
architecture  and  in  setting  it  is  a  gem.  It  ap- 
peals to  the  eye  and  to  the  senses  as  a  thing  of 

89 


inotorins  ^tiroab 


beauty  and  interest.  A  short  walk  from  the 
hotel  through  an  unpretentious  lane  brought  us 
to  the  main  entrance  of  the  estate — an  iron- 
grated  gate.  At  its  side  stood  the  porter's  lodge 
from  which  the  woman  attendant  came  in 
answer  to  our  ringing  the  bell,  and  opened  the 
gate  for  us  with  a  pretty  courtesy  and  smile  of 
welcome.  Through  the  vista  of  great  trees  and 
framed  on  every  side  by  vines  and  hedges  of 
jasmine,  we  had  our  first  glimpse  of  the  chateau, 
which,  since  1520,  when  it  was  built,  has  stood 
as  a  model  of  a  style  of  architecture  that  has 
never  been  surpassed  for  grace  and  simplicity. 
It  stands  almost  within  the  bed  of  the  river 
Indre,  whose  waters  flow  around  the  foundations, 
moving  noiselessly  over  a  bed  woven  thick  with 
long  green  grasses.  The  mirror-like  surface  of 
the  water  reflected  the  graceful  towers  and  spires 
of  the  chateau,  w^hich  show  nothing  of  the  ravages 
of  time,  and  the  vine-covered  bridge  forms  such 
a  beautiful  and  fitting  approach  that  we  all  stood 
in  silent  admiration  of  this  exquisite  gem  of  the 
Renaissance.  Set  in  the  center  of  a  park  of  a 
thousand  acres,  far  away  from  the  strident  calls 
of  a  busy  world,  and  surrounded  by  that  which 
accentuates  its  beauty  only,  it  is  little  wonder 
that  Azay-le-Rideau  is  called  the  jewel  of  Tou- 

90 


3n  tfje  ^eart  of  tfie  Ci^atea«  Countrp 

raine,  and  has  been  the  motif  and  inspiration 
of  many  of  the  finest  architectural  creations  of 
modern  times. 

We  stood  for  a  moment  as  we  were  leaving 
the  park  to  enjoy  one  long  look  at  the  chateau, 
and  then  regretfully  retraced  our  steps  toward 
the  hotel,  stopping  for  a  few  minutes  to  purchase 
some  post  cards  of  the  attendant  at  the  gate  who 
has  learned,  as  many  of  her  country  women 
have,  the  art  of  making  politeness  profitable. 

Had  we  had  more  time  we  should  have  run 
from  Azay  to  Langeais,  only  a  few  miles  north 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Loire,  to  have  seen  its 
great  chateau,  which  is  considered  the  master- 
piece of  fifteenth  century  military  architecture. 
So,  we  have  no  memory  of  it;  only  the  regret  at 
having  passed  it  by.  We  concluded,  however, 
to  go  direct  to  Tours  that  evening,  a  run  of  about 
sixteen  miles. 

We  could  not  help  noticing  as  we  spun  along 
through  town  and  country,  the  complete  change 
in  the  manner  and  dress  of  the  people  and  the 
architecture  of  the  buildings  from  that  which 
we  had  been  seeing  the  past  week.  The  pic- 
turesque characteristics  of  the  Brittany  people, 
the  severe  faces  of  the  sturdy,  well-built  men  and 
the  white  caps  of  the  women  had  given  place 

91 


iilotoring  ^broab 


to  the  typical,  small-statured  French  peasant, 
devoid  of  individuaUty.  The  sweetness  of  the 
Normandy  lasses,  with  the  fetching  little  caps 
and  lace  collars,  had  been  superseded  by  cheap 
affectations  of  Paris  modes.  The  transition  was 
too  great  to  be  overlooked,  yet  it  was  all  interest- 
ing as  all  of  France  is  interesting.  But  it  was 
not  like  Normandy  with  which  we  were  all  in 
love — nor  Brittany  which  had  appealed  to  us 
with  singular  force. 

Touraine  is  world-famed  for  its  chateaux, 
many  of  them  still  maintained  in  perfect  condi- 
tion, and  there  are  still  to  be  seen  in  Normandy 
and  Brittany  many  of  these  beautiful  country 
homes  of  classic  architecture  and  perfect  lines. 
They  are  generally  set  far  back  from  the  road 
and  are  approached  by  a  double,  and  sometimes 
as  many  as  six  rows  of  magnificent  trees  and  are 
always  surrounded  by  wide  lawns,  fringed  with 
flowering  shrubs  and  forest  trees.  We  passed 
scores  of  these  beautiful  places  of  w^hich  there 
are  more  than  twenty-three  thousand  in  France, 
each  with  its  own  name,  and  wished  that  we 
might  have  the  opportunity  of  enjoying  the  life 
in  them  as  it  must  be  lived  by  the  aristocracy 
and  wealth  of  the  various  communities. 

As  the  center  of  the  chateau  region  is  Tours, 

92 


These  peasant  women  know  the  duties  of  the 
burden  bearer,  and  seem  to  assume  them  as  a 
matter  of  course. 


3n  t\)t  fteart  of  tfje  Cfjateau  Country 

so  is  the  Hotel  de  VJJnivers  the  center  of  Tours, 
We  telegraphed  several  days  in  advance  for 
accommodations,  but  when  we  arrived  at  this 
beautiful  house,  we  were  assured  that  while  our 
telegram  had  been  received,  it  was  utterly  im- 
possible to  accommodate  us.  The  clerks,  all 
of  whom  were  young  women,  as  they  are  in  most 
of  the  hotels  in  France,  were  very  obliging,  how- 
ever, in  directing  us  to  a  near-by  house,  where 
we  might  have  been  satisfied  to  remain  had  we 
not  had  a  glimpse  of  the  other. 

After  dining  at  our  hotel,  we  strolled  over  to 
the  Hotel  de  VJJnivers  and  spent  the  evening  in 
the  large  out-of-door  court,  meeting  there  a 
number  of  friends  and  several  acquaintances 
who  had  crossed  with  us  on  the  Amerika.  We 
all  had  stories  to  relate  of  our  experiences  and 
we  exchanged  notes  and  suggestions  on  the 
many  interesting  things  to  see.  Several  of  our 
friends  had  been  at  Tours  for  a  number  of  days 
and  had  visited  the  several  chateaux,  all  within 
a  day's  trip,  so  that  we  eagerly  devoured  the 
information  they  gave  us  as  to  how  we  could 
make  the  most  of  our  time. 

Tours  is  the  social  as  well  as  the  natural  cen- 
ter of  Touraine,  and  any  one  desiring  to  visit 
the  chief  chateaux,  can  do  no  better  than  to 

93 


iHotoring  ^broab 


locate  there,  and  then  take  short  trips  each 
day,  coming  back  to  the  hotel  at  night.  Some 
idea  of  how  many  tourists  are  doing  this  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that  in  the  garage  at  the 
hotel,  which  opens  directly  from  the  court 
through  ornamental  iron  doorways,  we  counted 
one  evening  more  than  sixty  cars,  all  of  them 
owned  by  guests  at  the  house. 

A  little  before  noon  of  the  day  following  our 
arrival  at  Tours,  we  set  out  for  Chenonceaux, 
the  most  famous,  perhaps,  of  all  the  chateaux. 
The  run  of  twenty  miles  took  us  through  a 
pretty  country  south  of  the  Loire,  and  we  drew 
up  in  front  of  the  little  Hotel  du  Bon  Laboureur 
in  good  season  for  luncheon,  which  was  so 
excellent  that  we  willingly  paid  the  two  and  a 
half  francs  for  each  person  and  did  not  begrudge 
a  liberal  tip  to  the  cheerful  little  French  maid 
who  served  it.  The  chateau  is  about  a  mile 
distant  and  the  entrance  is  by  a  long  road  densely 
shaded  by  immense  trees  forming  a  veritable 
arbor  of  foliage.  We  left  the  motor  car  at  the 
end  of  this  road  near  the  great  wrought-iron 
gates,  which  have  been  copied  at  one  of  the 
fine  places  at  Newport,  and  walked  up  the 
broad  roadway,  stopping  at  the  do7ijon  for  per- 
mission to  enter  the  chateau. 

94 


3Jn  tfje  f^eart  of  tfje  Cfjateau  Country 

The  impression  of  this  vast  edifice,  which  has 
played  so  important  a  part  in  the  history  of 
France,  is  that  everything  has  been  done  to 
make  it  grand  and  massive.  As  it  is  built  on  a 
stone  bridge  spanning  the  river  Cher,  you  may 
enter  it  on  one  side  of  the  broad  stream  and 
leave  it  on  the  other.  It  is  now  leased  to  a  rich 
Cuban  family  named  Terry,  one  of  whom  mar- 
ried the  late  American  opera  singer,  Sybil  San- 
derson. 

Chenonceaux  is,  next  to  Azay-le-Rideau,  the 
most  perfect  of  all  the  chateaux  in  Renaissance 
architecture,  and  it  has  been  the  home  of  Cather- 
ine de  Medicis  and  several  of  the  French  kings. 
There  are  probably  few  buildings  in  the  world 
which  have  been  the  scene  of  as  many  brilliant 
social  settings  as  Chenonceaux,  and  it  is  thor- 
oughly associated  with  the  early  political  life  of 
France. 

We  spent  the  hour  before  sunset  in  walking 
about  the  exquisite  gardens  and  along  the  banks 
of  the  Cher,  enjoying  the  view  of  the  graceful 
and  historic  building  from  its  every  side.  Early 
in  the  evening  we  returned  to  Tours  and  after 
a  delicious  dinner,  sat  far  into  the  night  with 
friends  out  under  the  palms  in  the  open  court, 
exchanging  what  I  fear  was  in  most  instances 

95 


iHotoring  ^broab 


newly    acquired    knowledge   of   French    history 
and  architecture. 

The  following  day  we  visited  Loches,  and  to 
all  of  us  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  cha- 
teaux. Unlike  Azay-le-Rideau  and  Chenonceaux 
it  is  in  ruins  and  all  the  more  interesting  on  this 
account,  as  many  of  the  chateaux  have  been 
modernized  and  rebuilt  to  the  point  where  in- 
terest in  them  is  greatly  impaired.  The  castle 
of  Loches  is  built  upon  an  enormous  hill  im- 
mediately overlooking  the  town.  You  could 
spring  from  its  ruined  walls  without  touching  a 
thing  upon  the  roofs  of  the  houses  far  below. 
Within  the  court  is  the  famous  horse  chestnut 
tree,  a  species  which  is  native  to  France.  This 
tree,  which  is  of  enormous  size,  has  often  been 
described.  Its  branches  measure  more  than 
one  hundred  feet  across  from  tip  to  tip,  and  it 
is  in  a  perfect  state  of  preservation.  The  only 
tree  of  its  kind  which  is  at  all  its  equal  in  size 
and  beauty  is  the  tree  in  the  private  grounds  of 
Bayard  Stockton,  Esq.,  at  Princeton,  New  Jer- 
sey, and  it  is  said  that  this  tree  was  grown  from  a 
sapling  brought  over  from  this  famous  tree  at 
Loches,  by  General  Lafayette.  A  sapling  of  this 
Princeton  tree,  presented  to  the  author,  is  en- 
joying a  flourishing   growth  upon  his  farm  in 

no 


With  the  splendid  signboards  in  France  and 
the  perfect  road  maps  ire  had  Utile  trouble  in 
keeping  on  the  right  road. 


5n  tfje  ^cart  of  tfie  Cfjateau  Countrj* 

Connecticut,  and  may  some  day,  it  is  hoped, 
reach  such  a  dignified  size  that  it  will  reflect 
credit  on  its  distinguished  ancestors. 

Loches  was  greatly  enjoyed  by  all  of  us.  Its 
great  square  keep,  built  in  the  eleventh  century 
with  walls  of  great  thickness,  its  deep,  damp 
dungeons  down  which  we  crawled  and  felt  our 
way,  led  by  a  dapper  little  woman  whose  candle 
insisted  on  going  out,  leaving  us  in  pitchy  dark- 
ness, were  intensely  interesting  and  novel.  We 
were  shown  the  supports  from  which  was  hung 
in  the  gloomy  confines  of  a  tower  the  great  iron 
cage  in  which  Louis  XI  confined  Cardinal  La 
Balue  and  several  others  whom  he  did  not  like, 
and  the  exquisite  tomb  of  Agnes  Sorel  "/a  Belle 
des  Belles'"  the  mistress  of  Charles  VII.  Agnes 
was  the  lady  who  exerted  herself  so  vigorously 
in  an  effort  to  have  the  English  expelled  from 
France.  You  would  never,  however,  suspect 
her  bellicose  disposition  from  the  sweet  and 
placid  expression  shown  on  her  face  as  she  lies 
there,  life  size,  in  cold  marble,  with  her  hands 
folded  peacefully  over  her  breast,  and  her  tiny 
feet  resting  on  a  pair  of  lambs  while  two  angels 
kneel  at  her  head. 

Loches  looks  old  from  every  point  of  view,  and 
our  guidebook  told  us  that  its  history  runs  back 

97 


Motoxinz  ^broab 


to  the  fifth  century — quite  a  time  when  counted 
by  years.  The  day  we  spent  there  was  among 
the  most  interesting  of  our  entire  trip,  and  the 
place  should  be  included  in  every  itinerary  of 
the  chateau  country. 

The  road  back  to  Tours  might  be  chosen  as 
a  sample  of  an  ideal  French  boulevard.  The 
distance  is  just  forty  kilometers  and  our  *'Loco" 
reeled  it  off,  without  a  stop,  at  a  kilometer  a 
minute  and  this  without  pushing  the  car  in  the 
least.  We  made  the  run  just  at  the  most  beau- 
tiful time  of  the  day,  the  early  twilight,  reaching 
our  hotel  in  time  to  dress  for  dinner. 


98 


chapter  Mint 
Jfrom  tirours;  to  S^arii 


The  cliff  houses  along  the  Loire  Rii'er  add  an 
interesting  feature  to  the  trip  from  Tours  to 
Orleans. 


chapter  iSine 

:ftom  l^oursi,  bp  Wiay  of  jFontainetileau  anb 
l^ergaiUesi,  to  ^arisi 

THE  next  day  we  followed  the  road  along 
the  edge  of  the  Loire  and  had  a  good 
opportunity  to  study  the  interesting 
habitations  of  the  cliff  dwellers  along  the  river. 
There  was  just  room  enough  between  the  river 
and  the  cliffs  for  the  road  and  the  attractive  little 
cottages  and  gardens,  with  here  and  there  a 
stately  villa.  Immediately  back  of  them  rose 
the  precipitous  palisades  which  for  miles  are 
dug  out  in  places  and  occupied  as  homes  by  the 
poor.  It  was  very  interesting  to  study  the 
different  architectural  effects  created  by  the 
windows  and  doors  cut  out  of  these  solid  rocks. 
Some  of  the  people  live  sixty  or  seventy  feet 
above  the  ground  and  approach  their  houses  by 
steep  flights  of  steps  cut  out  of  the  side  of  the 
rock.  Vines  grow  over  many  of  the  houses  and 
in   almost   all   of   the   windows   were   boxes   of 

101 


iWotoring  ^liroab 


bright-colored  flowers  and  one  enterprising  man 
has  turned  his  cave  into  a  resort  where  motor 
cars  may  stop  and  enjoy  a  good  meal,  selecting 
their  own  mushrooms  from  the  beds  which  he  is 
cultivating  in  an  adjoining  cave.  Presumably 
the  people  living  in  these  places  have  no  fear  of 
cyclones  or  of  any  one  cutting  off  their  view  of 
the  surrounding  country. 

For  many  kilometers  before  we  reached  Am- 
boise,  where  we  had  planned  to  make  our  first 
stop,  the  road  is  built  along  the  top  of  a  dike 
like  those  one  sees  in  Holland.  On  one  side 
and  close  to  us  was  the  river  and  on  the  other, 
stretching  away  almost  to  the  horizon  line,  were 
the  fertile  fields  saved  to  the  peasants  by  the 
building  of  this  great  dike  to  keep  back  the 
water.  Long  stretches  of  the  ever-present  pop- 
lars, tall  and  shapely,  marked  the  outlines  of 
the  little  farms,  and,  snuggling  in  among  them 
were  the  thatched-roof  cottages  in  which  all  of 
peasant  France  lives  in  apparent  peace  and 
comfort. 

At  Amboise  we  had  an  excellent  luncheon  at 
the  Hotel  Lion  cVOr,  and  then  set  out  to  see  the 
chateau  from  whose  battlements  Francis  II,  and 
his  bride,  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  and  Catherine 
de    Medicis,    surrounded    by    the    princes    and 

102 


Jfrom  tE^ours;  to  ^arig 


courtiers,  looked  down  upon  the  butchery  of 
one  thousand  two  hundred  Huguenot  conspira- 
tors, who  had  plotted  to  remove  the  young  King 
Francis.  A  grewsome  story  is  that  of  Amboise, 
for  throughout  its  whole  early  history  it  was 
associated  with  treachery  and  carnage,  and  in 
later  years  was  used  as  a  state  prison.  Viewed 
as  we  saw  it  in  the  bright  sun  of  an  August 
afternoon,  wdth  its  gray  old  walls  looking  mel- 
low and  peaceful,  there  was  nothing,  even  in  its 
interior,  w^iich  we  had  the  privilege  of  inspect- 
ing, that  would  suggest  even  in  the  most  remote 
way  the  thrilling  scenes  it  had  seen  enacted. 

The  early  afternoon  saw  us  again  in  our 
motor  headed  for  Chaumont,  the  road  still 
clinging  close  to  the  banks  of  the  beautiful 
river,  and  giving  us,  as  it  had  from  the  time  we 
left  Tours,  an  endless  panorama  of  picturesque 
farms  and  villages,  past  which  we  flew  at  a  speed 
which  would  put  a  New^  York  bicycle  policeman 
into  action  at  sight.  We  did  not  stop  at  Chau- 
mont even  to  see  the  exquisite  chateau  which 
was  so  dear  to  the  heart  of  Catherine  de  Medicis 
and  which,  although  it  is  now  owned  and  oc- 
cupied by  a  private  family,  retains  many  of  its 
feudal  features.  We  felt  that  it  would  pay  us 
better   to   save   time   at   Chaumont   and   spend 

103 


JHotorins  ^broab 


more  at  Blois,  and  in  this  our  judgment  was 
good. 

There  are  two  things  which  we  shall  always 
remember  in  connection  with  Blois.  They  form 
a  sort  of  happy  combination  of  the  sublime  and 
the  ridiculous.  The  first  is,  of  course,  the 
magnificent  chateau  and  the  other  the  delicious 
cheese  wrapped  in  lettuce  leaves  and  served  with 
a  sauce  of  kirsch  which  we  had  with  our  coffee 
at  the  Grand  Hotel  de  Blois.  The  chateau  was 
superb,  the  cheese  a  gastronomic  inspiration, 
and  the  two  will  go  galloping  down  the  corridors 
of  our  memory  whenever  Blois  is  mentioned. 
So  many  descriptions  by  noted  and  able  wri- 
ters have  been  given  of  this  most  famous  of  all 
the  French  chateaux  that  I  shall  not  attempt 
even  to  tell  of  our  admiration  of  this  magnificent 
pile  which  stands  as  an  everlasting  monument 
to  its  great  founders  and  architects.  Its  ex- 
quisite fa9ades,  its  wonderful  exterior  staircase, 
built  on  the  principle  of  a  seashell,  its  great  halls 
and  galleries,  its  romances  and  history  are  all 
blended  in  our  minds  with  one  enduring  impres- 
sion which  time  will  not  obliterate. 

Leaving  Blois  we  followed  the  main  road, 
which  for  twenty-five  miles  is  as  straight  as  an 
engineering  line  could  be  laid,  through  Orleans, 

104 


We  ran  for  miles  through  the  nmqnificent 
forests  uf  Fontainehleau,  just  as  the  sun  uas  be- 
ginning to  cast  its  longest  shadous. 


Jfrom  tK^owrs;  to  ^aris; 


and  reached  the  forest  of  Fontainebleau  about 
sunset,  so  that  we  had  a  half -hour's  ride  through 
the  labyrinth  of  its  roads  at  the  most  delightful 
part  of  the  day.  This  famous  forest,  which  is 
the  most  beautiful  in  France,  and  probably  the 
most  perfect  of  any  in  Europe,  has  been  under 
Government  supervision  and  management  for 
generations.  It  covers  42,500  acres,  an  area 
fifty  times  as  great  as  Central  Park  in  New 
York  City,  and  crossing  and  recrossing  in  every 
direction  are  innumerable  roads,  varying  from 
beautiful  boulevards  to  the  narrowest  bridle 
paths,  all  kept  in  most  perfect  condition. 

In  the  city. of  Fontainebleau,  which  is  almost 
in  the  center  of  this  vast  forest,  we  selected  the 
Hotel  de  France  et  cV Angleterre  as  the  best  one 
at  which  to  stop.  This  hotel  is  directly  opposite 
the  palace,  and  is  one  of  the  most  attractive 
public  houses  in  all  of  France,  outside  of  Paris. 
I  asked  the  manager  to  show  us  a  suite  of  rooms, 
and  he  took  us  into  what  we  have  all  agreed  was 
the  most  fascinating  suite  we  have  ever  seen  in 
any  public  or  private  house.  When  I  was  told 
the  price  for  our  party,  I  could  readily  under- 
stand how  the  proprietor  had  been  able  to  furnish 
the  house  throughout  with  the  exquisite  and 
classic  furniture  and  rare  engravings  which  had 

105 


itlotortns  ^btoab 


been  bought  from  time  to  time  from  the  palace. 
It  would  be  a  sweet  thing  to  sleep  in  a  bed 
which  had  been  occupied  by  the  great  Napoleon 
and  which  is  surmounted  with  the  panoply  of 
state;  it  would  be  a  notable  pleasure  to  bathe 
in  a  bowl  and  use  water  from  a  pitcher  which 
had  been  used  by  the  Empress  Josephine;  it 
would  be  interesting  to  sit  in  front  of  the  window 
looking  out  on  the  palace  in  the  chair  often 
occupied  by  Napoleon's  chief  of  council — but 
these  things  come  too  high  for  an  American 
business  man  on  an  automobile  trip,  and  I  con- 
cluded that  sixty  dollars  a  night  might  be 
considered  a  trifle  expensive  for  such  accommo- 
dations. I,  therefore,  suggested  to  the  manager, 
in  my  politest  and  what  my  wife  calls  my  best 
style,  that  while  the  price  was  reasonable  con- 
sidering the  historical  interest  of  the  furnishings, 
three  plain,  clean  bedrooms  would  be  sufficient 
to  meet  our  desires.  I  think  he  was  rather 
inclined  to  take  exception  to  my  judgment,  but 
assured  me  that  he  could  give  me  comfortable 
rooms  at  a  less  price  in  the  annex,  and  we  were 
soon  settled  in  a  delightful  suite  at  what  was 
reasonable  for  the  Hotel  de  France,  but,  never- 
theless, was  the  highest  price  we  paid  in  France, 
even  including  accommodations  in  Paris. 

106 


:f rom  ^our£i  to  JPari£f 


We  were  so  infatuated  with  the  hotel  and  its 
surroundings,  and  the  deUcious,  perfectly  served 
dinner  which  we  had  among  the  flowers  in  the 
garden,  that  we  telegraphed  our  friends  from 
Waterbury,  who  were  to  follow  us  the  next  day 
from  Tours,  telling  them  to  be  sure  to  stop  at 
this  hotel.  They  arrived  just  after  we  had  left 
for  Versailles  and  were  shown  the  same  suite  of 
rooms  which  were  shown  us.  My  friend  was 
so  delighted  that  he  failed  to  ask  the  price,  or 
the  price  of  his  dinner  in  the  garden  that  evening. 
The  next  morning  when  he  paid  his  bill  he  had 
a  cruel  awakening,  and  when  we  met  in  Paris  he 
had  not  yet  reached  normal  temperature  after 
having  expressed  liis  opinion  to  the  manager  of 
the  house  for  his  charges  for  a  night's  lodging 
and  dinner.  This  house  is  the  best  one  at 
which  to  stop  in  Fontainebleau,  but  unless  one 
is  a  millionaire  and  cares  nothing  for  expense, 
it  is  advisable  to  ask  prices  of  everything  in 
advance,  especially  as  no  prices  are  printed  on 
the  menu  card. 

The  run  from  Fontainebleau  to  Versailles  was 

quickly  made,  but  one  of  the  most  interesting 

incidents  of  our  entire  trip  was  experienced  here. 

We  had  taken  the  wrong  road,  as  we  were  too 

much  interested  in  what  we  were  seeing  to  watch 

107 


iHotoring  ^Ijroab 


the  signboards,  and  as  we  were  passing  a  large 
limousine  going  in  the  opposite  direction,  we 
discovered  in  it  an  intimate  friend  whom  we  did 
not  know  was  in  France.  He  spied  us  at  the 
same  moment.  Of  course  both  cars  were 
stopped  and  after  being  presented  to  his  friends 
we  had  an  enjoyable  visit  before  parting  com- 
pany. By  a  curious  coincidence,  they  had 
gotten  off  their  road,  as  we  had,  and  if  either 
one  of  us  had  been  on  the  right  road,  we  should 
not  have  met. 

We  spent  only  an  hour  at  Versailles,  as  we 
had  previously  visited  its  palaces  and  gardens, 
and  left  for  Paris  by  the  way  of  Sevres  and  St. 
Cloud,  passing  in  the  suburbs  of  Versailles  the 
golf  club  whose  links  are  among  the  best  in  all 
Europe.  On  this  road  we  struck  the  horrible 
pave  so  universal  all  about  Paris.  It  is  a 
curious  thing  that  while  in  general  the  roads  of 
France  are  world-famous  for  their  excellence, 
the  approach  to  Paris  from  any  direction  by  the 
main  route  is  inexcusably  bad.  The  pavement 
is  old  and  rough  with  frequent  deep  and  danger- 
ous ruts  and  the  streets  full  of  the  heavy  trucking 
teams  with  often  four  horses  tandem.  As  we 
came  nearer  to  the  city,  we  had  numerous  tram 
cars  and  motor  'busses  to  add  to  our  discomfort. 

108 


The  railway  gates  of  the  many  grade  crossings 
in  France  are  usually  in  charge  of  women. 


jFrom  (Kowrg  to  J^aris; 


We  came  into  Paris  by  the  way  of  St.  Cloud,  and 
entered  at  the  gates  taking  us  into  the  Bois  de 
Boulogne.  Here  we  were  stopped  by  the  officials, 
who  measured  the  gasoline  in  our  tanks  and 
charged  us  the  tax  which  amounted  to  a  little 
more  than  five  francs,  giving  us  a  receipt  for  the 
amount  paid.  Everything  which  enters  the  city 
of  Paris  is  taxed.  All  of  the  market  women 
bringing  in  fruit  and  the  truck  gardeners  bringing 
in  their  loads  of  vegetables  have  to  pay  the  city 
tax,  the  octroi. 

We  reached  the  city  just  at  the  delightful  time 
of  the  afternoon  when  the  Bois  de  Boidogne  and 
the  Champs  Elysees  were  crowded  with  fashion 
in  all  sorts  of  vehicles,  from  the  beautiful 
limousine  motor  cars  to  the  inevitable  and  omni- 
present fiacres.  We  found  our  way  directly,  and 
without  incident,  to  the  Hotel  VAthenSe,  where 
our  friend,  the  manager,  assured  us,  with  the 
grace  which  only  a  French  host  possesses,  that 
he  remembered  with  much  pleasure  our  previous 
visits  and  hoped  that  we  should  find  ourselves 
comfortable  and  that  we  would  make  a  long 
stay. 

We  sent  the  car  around  to  Fournier's  garage, 
one  of  the  best  in  Paris,  although  the  charges 
are  rather  high  compared  with  those  in  provin- 

109 


iHotoring  J^broati 


cial  towns,  but  not  with  American  prices.  As 
we  were  staying  but  two  days  in  the  French  capi- 
tal, we  decided  to  make  use  of  the  motor  cabs 
for  any  running  about  that  we  had  to  do.  The 
drivers  in  Paris,  both  of  automobiles  and  car- 
riages, are  reckless  in  the  extreme.  The  streets 
are  so  congested  that  there  is  little  pleasure  in 
driving  your  own  car  with  constant  risk  of  col- 
lision or  accident.  The  recklessness  of  Paris 
motorists  and  drivers  is  proverbial.  That  there 
are  not  more  accidents  is  a  wonder.  A  speed  of 
twenty  to  forty  miles  an  hour  seems  perfectly 
allowable  on  city  streets,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
pedestrian  to  get  out  of  the  way.  It  is  said  that 
if  a  person  allows  himself  to  be  run  over  in  Paris 
he  is  arrested  for  it.  The  one  great  crime  for 
which  instant  arrest  follows  is  to  "smoke"  your 
car,  and  ?f  this  prohibition  was  enforced  in  our 
own  country  it  would  do  much  to  change  the 
sentiment  of  the  masses  against  motors,  espe- 
cially in  the  cities. 


110 


chapter  ^en 
Jfrom  ^arig  to  Jgoulogne- 


TT'e  rode  for  miles  over  these  perfect  French 
roads,  throuqh  an  apparentli/  unendintj  arbor 
of  double  rows  of  trees. 


Cfjapter  Cen 

0UV  Hajit  3l^un  in  Jfrance  from  J^aris!  to 
Poulogne=^ur=iller 

WE  left  the  Hotel  VAthenee  in  Paris 
just  at  noon  on  Sunday  for  Boulogne, 
from  which  port  we  intended  to  cross 
to  England.  We  wended  our  way  out  through 
the  almost-deserted  streets  (for  all  Paris,  like 
London,  empties  itself  into  the  country  every 
summer  Sunday),  to  the  Champs  Ely  sees  and 
then  up  to  the  Hotel  cl'Iena  to  bid  our  friends 
from  Waterbury  adieu  as  our  touring  together 
had  ended  at  Paris.  Their  itinerary  took  them 
to  Belgium  and  Germany  and  ours  took  us  to 
England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  Wales.  We 
left  them  with  keen  regret  because,  from  the 
time  we  had  sailed  from  New  York,  we  had 
been  almost  continually  together.  During  our 
tour  in  France  they  sometimes  preceded  us  to 
places  and  again  we  would  precede  them,  but 
if  we  were  not  actually  together  on  the  road,  we 
were  at  the  same  hotels  and  enjoyed  their  agree- 

113 


[otoring  ^tjroab 


able  companionship  to  the  fnllest  extent.  When, 
therefore,  we  turned  our  car  toward  the  Arc 
d'Triomphe  and  entered  the  Avenue  de  la 
Grande  Armee,  we  felt  a  sense  of  loneliness, 
realizing  that  we  were  to  make  the  remainder  of 
the  trip  by  ourselves. 

The  Avenue  de  la  Grande  Armee  might  now 
properly  be  called  the  Avenue  de  la  Grande 
Automobile,  for,  from  its  beginning  at  the  Arc 
de  Triomphe  to  the  Neuilly  Gate,  it  is  lined  on 
either  side  with  garages  or  supply  shops.  When 
we  reached  the  city  gates  we  were  stopped  by  the 
officials  who  measured  the  gasoline  in  the  tank 
of  the  car  as  it  had  been  measured  when  we 
entered  the  city.  As  we  had  put  none  in  while 
in  Paris,  we  had  several  gallons  less  than  when 
we  paid  the  octroi,  or  city  tax,  two  days  before. 
The  officials  took  our  incoming  receipt  and  after 
a  little  figuring,  gave  us  back  three  francs  (sixty 
cents).  We  said  "^Merci"  and  ^'Au  Revoir"  in 
our  best  French  and  took  our  official  departure 
from  Paris. 

We  had  decided  to  leave  the  city  by  the  main 
route  through  St.  Germain  and  the  St.  Germain 
Forest  and  then  go  north  through  Pontoise  and 
Beauvais.  In  about  an  hour  after  leaving  the 
Neuilly  Gate  we  crossed  the  Seine  upon  one  of 

114 


0UV  Hasit  3^un  in  Jfrancc 


its  many  bridges  and  started  up  the  long,  cir- 
cuitous hill  leading  to  St.  Germain,  which  stands 
as  if  it  were  on  the  top  of  the  Palisades,  and  we 
had  crossed  the  Hudson  and  had  to  go  up  the 
well-known  Fort  Lee  hill  to  reach  it. 

From  the  bridge  we  had  seen,  far  up  on  the 
summit  overlooking  the  valley,  a  prominent 
sign  of  a  hotel  and  concluded  that  this  would 
be  a  good  place  at  which  to  lunch,  as  the 
view  of  the  valley  of  the  Seine  would  be  par- 
ticularly fine  from  that  point.  As  we  rounded 
the  summit  after  climbing  the  long  hill,  which 
nothing  but  a  high-powered  car  could  climb 
comfortably,  we  saw  what  we  supposed  was  the 
pretentious  entrance  to  the  hotel  grounds  and 
at  its  side  an  attendant  in  livery. 

My  daughter,  who  spoke  French,  inquired  of 
the  guardian  of  the  gate  if  we  could  procure 
dejeuner  there.  As  he  replied  with  the  custom- 
ary '^Oui,  oui,  entrez,''  in  we  went,  with  exhaust 
wide  open,  for  the  grade  was  rather  sharp  and 
we  had  not  had  a  fair  running  start. 

Once  within  the  brick  wall  which  surrounded 
the  yard,  we  saw  spread  before  us  a  beautiful 
picture.  Here  under  the  great  spreading  trees 
on  the  smoothly  clipped  lawn  were  placed  scores 
of  small  tables  around  which  were  gathered  a 

115 


iHotorins  J^broab 


large  number  of  most  fashionably  dressed  ladies 
and  gentlemen.  Our  noisy  entrance  had  evi- 
dently made  a  decided  sensation,  especially  as 
we  were  at  once  beyond  question  put  down  as 
foreigners  en  tour  and  not  natives  out  for  a  day's 
run.  Our  trunks  on  the  back  of  the  car,  our 
costumes,  and  the  little  American  flag  flying 
from  our  right-hand  lamp,  all  stamped  our 
identity  as  tourists. 

We  stopped  at  the  entrance  of  the  hotel, 
alighted  as  if  we  were  to  the  manor  born,  and 
despite  the  fact  that  we  were  the  observed  of 
all  observers,  and  that  everybody  had  stopped 
eating  for  the  purpose  of  looking  at  us,  made 
our  way  as  indifferently  as  possible  to  a  table 
which  was  unoccupied  and  proceeded  to  make 
ourselves  comfortable. 

In  the  meantime  two  of  our  party  had  gone 
inside  to  wash  up  and  were  nearly  smothered 
with  the  attention  of  attendants.  They  soon 
joined  us  at  the  table,  but  prior  to  that  a  waiter 
who  spoke  English  had  come  over  and  asked  if 
we  were  members  of  the  Club.  "Club,"  I  ex- 
claimed, "is  this  a  club.?"  "Yes,"  he  replied, 
"  this  is  the  Country  Club  of  the  Automobile  Club 
of  Paris."  In  the  meantime,  two  or  three  gentle- 
men who  were  evidently  officers  of  the  Club  had 


When  we  came  to  a  particularly  beautiful  piece 
of  woods,  if  it  iras  about  noon  we  u'ould  stop 
for  a  picnic  lunch. 


0UV  Hast  Eun  in  Jfrance 


arisen  from  their  seats  and  were  having  an  ani- 
mated discussion  of  which  we  were  unquestion- 
ably the  subject.  We  assured  the  waiter  that  we 
had  made  a  most  unfortunate  mistake,  owing  to 
the  statement  of  the  attendant  at  the  gate  that  we 
might  come  in  and  have  dejcurier,  and  that  we 
wished  that  he  would  express  our  regret  to  the 
gentlemen  who  were  discussing  the  matter,  and 
say  that  we  would  retire  at  once.  He  stepped 
over  to  them  and  while  he  was  talking  a  gentle- 
man approached  us  and  said  in  French  that  we 
probably  did  not  know  that  this  was  a  Club  and 
that  none  but  members  were  admissable,  but 
that  he  thought  he  could  arrange  it  so  that  we 
might  have  our  dejeuner,  as  we  had  made  the 
mistake  inadvertently.  He  went  over  to  the 
officers  of  the  Club  and  apparently  said  the 
same  thing  to  them,  but  we  saw  by  the  shake  of 
their  heads  and  wild  gestures  that  they  were 
obdurate  and  that  it  was  clearly  etiquette  for  us 
to  retire  as  gracefully  and  as  speedily  as  possible. 
While  the  discussion  was  going  on,  the  ladies 
of  our  party  were  made  the  subject  of  the  keenest 
observation  of  every  woman  there  and  it  was 
evident  were  being  thoroughly  discussed.  The 
situation  became  most  embarrassing,  and  we 
should  have  left  the  club  had  not  the  gentle- 

117 


iHotoring  ^broab 


man  who  so  kindly  interceded  for  us  despite 
our  protests,  insisted  that  we  remain;  we  felt 
that  we  could  not  leave  without  giving  offense 
to  him.  The  officials  were  insistent,  however, 
and  our  friend  found  himself  so  strongly  op- 
posed in  his  effort  to  extend  to  us  the  hospitality 
of  the  Club  that  he  finally,  with  a  generosity 
and  a  spirit  which  we  will  always  remember 
with  appreciation,  exclaimed:  "Then  I  make 
these  people  my  personal  guests  and  they  shall 
remain." 

He  stepped  over  to  us  and  told  us  of  what  he 
had  done,  and  begged  that  we  would  be  seated 
and  hoped  that  we  would  enjoy  our  dejeuner. 
Then  he  brought  his  wife  over  and  presented  her 
to  our  party  and  became,  in  fact  as  well  as  in 
name,  our  host.  We  were  so  impressed  with 
the  entire  absence  of  anything  like  courtesy  on 
the  part  of  the  officers  of  the  Club  that  we  feared 
our  protector  might  subsequently  be  made  to 
suffer  for  having  shown  himself  to  be  the  only 
member  with  sufficient  politeness  to  rise  to  the 
occasion  and  to  do  what  every  American  motorist 
would  have  done  under  similar  circumstances. 

The  dejeuner  was  easily  one  which  might  be 
accepted  as  an  illustration  of  science  in  French 
culinary  art.     From  the  delicious  melons  to  the 

118 


1 


0nv  lasit  ji^un  m  Jfrance 


cheese  and  coffee,  it  was  perfection  itself,  and 
for  all  of  the  courtesy  thus  extended  we  were  not 
permitted  to  spend  a  centime.  It  has  since  been 
my  pleasure  to  continue  a  correspondence  with 
Monsieur  Romeo,  the  gracious  gentleman  who 
constituted  himself  our  advocate  and  friend 
(who,  we  found,  was  not  a  Frenchman,  but  an 
Italian  non-resident  member  of  the  Club)  and 
to  have  sent  him  several  souvenirs  of  America, 
for  which  he  has  expressed  the  highest  appre- 
ciation. 

After  leaving  the  Club,  we  turned  to  the  right 
and  took  the  boulevard  which  runs  for  a  mile 
or  more  along  the  brow  of  the  cliffs  fringing  the 
Seine.  To  our  right  and  far  below  us  was  a 
magnificent  view  of  the  stately,  tortuous  river 
with  the  villages  dotting  its  farther  shore.  To 
our  left  and  skirting  the  boulevard  was  a  row 
of  Normandy  poplars,  so  thickly  set  as  prac- 
tically to  form  a  hedge  fifty  or  more  feet  in 
height.  On  the  broad  walk  of  turf  between 
them  and  the  roadway  was  a  throng  of  pedes- 
trians in  their  best  clothes  promenading  much 
as  they  do  on  our  own  Riverside  Drive  in  New 
York  on  Sunday  afternoons. 

At  the  end  of  the  boulevard  we  turned  into 
the  great  forest  of  St.  Germain,  winding  through 

119 


MotoxirxQ  ^broab 


it  to  its  farther  end.  This  is  one  of  the  noble 
forests  of  France  which,  with  others,  the  Govern- 
ment has  had  the  good  sense  to  preserve.  Here 
within  twenty  miles  of  Paris  is  a  great  natural 
park  intersected  and  crossed  by  roads  and  paths 
and  yet  left  in  a  primitive  wildness  which  is 
picturesque  and  delightful.  Shortly  after  com- 
ing out  of  the  forest  we  passed  through  Pontoise, 
and  without  stopping  continued  through  Meru, 
Beauvais  and  Marseille,  having  along  the  way 
a  continuous  panorama  of  exquisite  views. 

We  reached  Abbeville  just  about  dark,  and 
driving  into  the  court  of  the  Hotel  cle  la  Gave, 
were  soon  settled  in  comfortable  rooms.  After 
a  very  good  supper  we  went  out  to  see  the  town 
by  night.  Like  all  the  French  cities  it  has  an 
interesting  history  and  several  buildings  ante- 
dating the  discovery  of  America,  but  we  did  not 
visit  any  of  them,  our  minds  being  full  of  cha- 
teau lore,  Anne  of  Brittany,  and  Francois  le 
Premier,  of  which  we  had  so  much  in  Touraine. 

We  left  Abbeville  after  breakfast  for  Bou- 
logne, our  last  run  in  France.  The  road  was 
one  of  the  finest  we  had  found  anywhere  in  the 
country.  It  followed  close  to  the  coast  line  and 
ran  for  nearly  the  entire  distance  under  an  arch 
of  foliage,  with  waving  fields  of  grain  on  either 

120 


The  boys  drive  the  flock  of  goats  from  door  to 
door  and  milk  them,  in  the  presrnre  of  the  cus- 
tomer. 


[otoring  ^broab 


papers.  The  cost  of  taking  the  car  across  from 
Boulogne  to  Folkestone  was  £5.  5s  ($26.25)  at 
the  company's  risk.  If  we  had  sent  it  at  our 
own  risk  the  charge  would  have  been  .£4 
($20.00). 

We  found  the  arrangements  for  handling  cars 
at  Boulogne  most  complete,  as  many  motors 
are  taken  back  and  forth  on  each  trip  during  the 
summer  season.  Our  car  was  pushed  upon  a 
heavy  platform  and  a  heavy  bar  was  placed 
across  each  end,  close  up  against  the  tires  and 
fastened  in  place  by  substantial  iron  pins.  Bars 
running  lengthwise  were  also  fastened  in  place 
so  that  the  car  could  not  move  forward,  back- 
ward or  sideways.  Four  heavy  cables  were 
attached  to  the  platform,  one  at  each  corner 
with  a  crossbar  above  the  car  to  keep  the  cables 
from  "pinching"  it,  and  these  were  in  turn 
fastened  to  the  main  chain  of  the  steam  derrick. 
This  was  all  done  in  five  minutes  and  soon  our 
car  was  swung  off  the  quay,  over  the  side  of  the 
boat  and  carefully  lowered  to  the  open  lower  deck 
of  the  steamship.  Underneath  the  platform  of 
the  open  cradle  were  small  iron  wheels,  and  the 
deck  hands,  as  soon  as  the  car  was  lowered, 
rolled  it  back  into  its  stall  and  blocked  it  so  that 
there  was  no  danger  of  its  being  damaged  by  any 

122 


d^ur  Hasft  3^un  in  Jfrance 


motion  of  the  boat,  which,  on  the  Channel,  is 
usually  unsteady. 

As  soon  as  the  car  was  landed  on  the  English 
boat,  the  customs  officers  refunded  the  duties 
which  I  had  previously  paid  in  Havre,  but  they 
would  not  do  so  until  the  car  had  been  deposited 
in  the  boat,  this  being  evidence  to  them  that  it 
had  officially  left  France  and  been  placed  under 
the  British  flag. 

There  was  a  slight  charge  for  handling  the  car 
and  I  dispensed  the  customary  number  of  tips 
to  the  longshoremen  who  worked  on  the  job. 
In  fact,  by  the  number  of  them  who  gathered 
around  me,  bowing  and  scraping,  with  palms 
extended,  I  should  have  thought  that  half  the 
population  of  Boulogne  had  taken  part  in  the 
work.  I  discovered  in  the  front  row  of  the  tip 
seekers,  one  old  Frenchman  whose  share  seemed 
to  have  been  to  stand  open-mouthed  as  the  car 
was  lifted  up  into  the  air  preparatory  to  being 
swung  around  into  the  hold  of  the  ship.  I  sup- 
pose he  felt  that  his  assistance  in  watching  the 
job  had  been  very  helpful.  It  reminded  me  of 
a  little  chap  who  pumped  the  wind  into  the 
church  organ  and  used  to  brag  after  the  service 
about  "the  fine  music  we  made  to-day." 

We   had   passed   the   day   at   Boulogne   very 

123 


otoring  ^broab 


delightfully.  It  is  an  interesting  place  and  one 
can  get  there  a  glimpse  of  the  attractive  French 
seashore  life  as  it  is  among  the  most  popular 
resorts  of  France.  We  spent  the  morning  in 
looking  about  the  shops  and  put  in  the  afternoon 
on  the  broad  beach,  watching  the  crowds  of 
bathers  in  their  gay  and  somewhat  startling 
costumes,  and  the  larger  crowds  of  fashionably 
dressed  French  people  grouped  under  the  bright- 
colored  awnings  which  extend  for  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  along  the  sands.  Following  the  bathing 
hour,  we  adjourned  as  is  the  custom  to  the 
grounds  of  the  beautiful  casino,  built  at  the  very 
edge  of  the  sea,  and  listened  to  the  concert  of 
the  fine  band  which  plays  there  every  after- 
noon and  evening  in  summer. 


124 


Sometimes  ire  would  v\eet  a  market  woman 
who  was  resting  her  diminutive  donkey,  utterlt/ 
indifferent  to  the  fact  that  shn  orrxipied  must  of 
the  road. 


chapter  Cleben 

Jfrencfi  l^oabsJ  anb  tfjeir 
excellence 


chapter  Cleben 

il>om£tf)ms  ^bout  Jfrencfj  3l^oab2;  anb  tfjeir 
excellence 

THE  roads  of  France,  which  by  common 
consent  are  the  best  of  any  country  in 
the  world  taken  as  a  whole,  are  classified 
in  four  divisions : 

First — The  Route  Nationale; 

Second — The  Route  Departmentale; 

Third — The  Chemin  de  Grande  Communica- 
tion; 

Fourth — The  Chemin  de  Moindre  Importance. 

The  Routes  Nationale  are  the  most  direct 
avenues  between  the  large  cities.  In  former 
times  they  were  paved  with  large,  flat  stones,  but 
almost  everywhere  now,  except  in  the  towns, 
these  stones  have  been  taken  away  and  the  finest 
surfaced  macadam  substituted.  A  map  of  France 
showing  the  Routes  Nationale  would  resemble  a 
railroad  map,  with  New  York  or  Chicago  as  a 
center,  in  that  all  chief  points  are  to  be  reached 

127 


iWotorins  ^tiroab 


from  a  hub  or  center  which  in  France  is  Paris. 
These  roads  are  maintained  by  the  national 
government  and  the  grades  upon  them  have 
been  reduced  to  a  minimum.  The  various  de- 
partments of  France  build  and  keep  these  roads 
as  ordered  by  the  general  government  and  so 
perfect  is  the  supervision  that  they  rarely  show 
need  of  repairs.  The  roads  are  divided  into 
very  short  sections,  and  an  official  is  in  charge 
of  each.  If  any  stones  become  detached  or 
any  ruts  appear  the  damage  is  immediately 
fixed  with  the  same  degree  of  care  that  would  be 
exercised  in  repairing  tiling  in  your  bath  room 
floor  which  had  become  loosened. 

In  riding  in  an  automobile  over  the  roads  of 
France,  there  is  so  little  vibration  that  many  of 
the  notes  from  which  this  book  has  been  written 
were  made  in  the  motor  car  while  it  w^as  running 
at  good  speed.  If  any  reader  desires  to  know 
just  what  this  means,  let  him  try  making  notes 
while  riding  on  an  American  road.  There  was 
also  very  little  dust  and  in  many  places  none, 
except  on  the  lesser  roads. 

The  Routes  Departmeiitale,  or  second  grade  of 
roads,  have  no  paving  stones  except  in  the  towns 
and  are,  in  many  parts  of  France,  in  as  good  if 
not  better  condition,  than  the  Routes  Nationale, 

128 


It  takes  the  firmest  resolutions  to  keep  from 
speeditifj  on  these  superb  French  mads,  better 
than  park  boulevards  in  America. 


^ometijing  Stiout  Jfrencfi  Boabs! 

They  are  built,  repaired  and  cleaned  by  the 
various  departruents  of  France. 

The  Chemin  de  Grande  Communication,  or 
third  division  roads,  lead  from  commune  to  com- 
mune, or  village  to  village.  These  roads  are 
repaired  and  kept  in  order  by  the  respective 
communes,  and  while  they  are  narrower  than 
the  roads  already  named,  are  kept  in  nearly  as 
good  condition.  The  Touring  Club  of  France 
has  contributed  large  sums  of  money  to  several 
communes  which  felt  that  they  could  not  afford 
to  keep  the  roads  in  the  highest  state  of  perfec- 
tion. 

The  Chemin  de  Moindre  Importarice,  the  fourth 
division  roads,  run  from  farm  to  farm  and  are 
paid  for  and  kept  in  order  by  the  commune  or 
village  in  which  they  lie.  They  are  mostly  so 
narrow  that  two  motors  meeting  have  to  pass 
very  carefully,  but  they  are  always  free  from 
ruts,  and  in  a  condition  which  would  put  nine 
tenths  of  the  American  roads,  even  the  most 
important  ones,  to  shame.  In  fact,  nowhere  on 
our  entire  trip  through  France  did  we  find  a 
piece  of  road  which  could  be  called  poor  except 
in  the  suburbs  of  Paris  and  these  were  mostly 
miserable. 

The  roads  of  France  suffer  more  in  dry  weather 

129 


MotovivLQ  ^broab 


than  in  wet,  and  to  prevent  dust  and  to  keep  the 
surface  of  the  road  moist,  there  are  hundreds  of 
miles  fringed  by  trees  on  either  side.  The  plant- 
ing and  kind  of  tree  is  determined  by  the  general 
government  and  severe  penalties  are  imposed  on 
anybody  who  mutilates  a  tree  in  any  way. 

The  United  States  could  learn  a  great  deal 
from  France  in  the  matter  of  road  making,  and 
each  State  interested  in  good  roads  could  spend 
money  to  no  better  advantage  than  by  sending 
its  engineers  in  charge  of  road  building  to 
France  to  study  the  system  of  building  and 
maintenance.  The  French  never  permit  a  mac- 
adamized road  to  fall  into  bad  repair.  They  act 
on  the  principle  that  a  stitch  in  time  saves  nine, 
and  that  if  the  smooth  surface  of  the  macadam 
is  broken  in  any  place  it  is  easier  to  fix  it  immedi- 
ately while  the  damage  is  insignificant  than  to 
allow  it  to  wear  into  a  great  hole  which  will  be- 
come a  nuisance,  if  not  an  actual  menace.  As 
the  stone  used  in  making  the  roads  contains 
considerable  natural  cement,  it  becomes  almost 
solid  in  time. 

In  many  places  each  gutter  is  carefully  paved 
with  stones  so  that  the  water  may  be  carried  off 
without  cutting  ruts  in  the  macadam  at  the  edges. 

There  are  many  stretches  of  the  chief  roads  in 

130 


France  which  run  for  miles  in  an  absolutely 
straight  line.  The  country  is  invariably  rolling 
and  it  is  nothing  unusual  to  come  to  the  summit 
of  some  hill  and  see  the  road  stretching  away  in 
front  as  straight  as  a  die  and  as  far  as  the  eye 
can  reach. 

Another  feature  of  the  French  roads  is  the 
entire  absence  of  fences.  Fields  come  to  the  very 
edge  of  the  grass  bordering  the  rows  of  trees  that 
line  the  roads,  and  in  the  northern  provinces 
especially,  almost  every  foot  of  the  acreage  seems 
to  be  tilled. 

Motoring  is  ideal  when  it  can  be  enjoyed  under 
mile  after  mile  of  arched  foliage,  past  fertile 
fields  and  picturesque,  though  often  poverty-like, 
thatched  cottages,  with  here  and  there  attractive 
chateaux  and  villages  as  features  of  the  land- 
scape. Some  one  has  said  that  motoring  along 
one  of  the  roads  of  France  reminded  him  of 
winding  up  a  great  strip  of  white  ribbon. 

There  is  a  surprising  number  of  railway 
crossings  at  grade  in  France,  but  in  every  in- 
stance there  are  gate  keepers  and  gates  for  the 
protection  of  travelers.  The  gates  are  kept 
closed  and  opened  only  by  the  keepers,  most  of 
whom  are  women,  provided  there  is  no  train  due 
within  ten  minutes  to  half  an  hour, 

131 


otortng  lUtiroab 


Another  feature  of  the  roads  of  France  is  the 
ever-present  guidepost.  Many  of  these  are  sur- 
mounted by  an  iron  plaque,  about  two  feet 
long  and  a  foot  high.  Occasionally  these 
plaques  are  fastened  to  some  substantial  wall. 
They  are  usually  white  and  blue  enamel  and 
show,  without  any  possibility  of  mistake,  not  only 
the  commune  or  township  in  which  they  stand, 
but  the  next  important  place  in  either  direction 
as  well  as  the  distances  between  all  the  chief 
points  upon  that  route.  Thus  you  will  find,  if 
you  are  traveling  on  a  road  which  leads  to  Paris 
that  the  name  of  the  metropolis  will  appear  on  the 
signboard,  although  it  may  be  several  hundred 
kilometers  distant. 

In  addition  to  these  guideposts  the  Touring 
Club  de  Frmice  and  the  Automobile  Club,  and 
a  private  automobile  manufacturer  have  put  on 
the  chief  roads  a  series  of  signs  and  symbols  to 
indicate  to  motorists  and  bicyclists  what  sort  of 
a  road  they  are  approaching.  The  sign  **ralen- 
tir^^  which,  translated  into  good  United  States 
slang,  means  '*slow  up,"  has  caused  many  a 
motorist  who  was  unfamiliar  with  the  road  he 
was  traveling,  to  go  slow  and  to  find  shortly  after 
the  sign  had  been  passed  that  it  was  well  that  he 
paid  attention  to  it,  because  of  a  steep  grade  or 

132 


In  manjj  places  the  broad,  white  road  strelclied 
away  in  front  of  us  as  siraiuht  as  an  arr<.w  and 
as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach. 


^ometijing  ^bout  Jfrencfi  l^oatrs; 


some  abrupt  turn.  There  is  no  excuse,  in  view 
of  the  symbols  and  signboards,  for  any  one 
motoring  in  France  to  find  himself  on  the  wrong 
road  or  to  get  into  trouble  unexpectedly. 

Every  little  way  upon  the  chief  highways  of 
France,  you  pass  the  barracks  of  the  ge7idarmerie, 
a  perfectly  appointed 
rural  police  force.  These 
men,  while  they  are  of 
the  army,  are  never  con- 
sidered in  case  of  war. 
Napoleon  wrote  to  Ber- 
thier  in  1812: 

"Take  not  the  police  with 
you  but  conserve  them  for  the 
watching  of  the  country  side. 
Two  or  three  hundred  soldiers 
are  as  nothing,  but  two  or  three 
hundred  police  will  ensure  the 
tranquility  and  good  order  of  the 
people  at  large." 

France  has  to-day 
about  twenty-five  thousand  men  engaged  in 
this  service,  and  a  company  commanded  by 
a  major  is  allotted  to  each  department.  Their 
pay  is  less  than  sixty  cents  a  day,  but  as  they 
receive  their  lodgings  in  the  barracks  and 
their   uniforms,    and    have    practically   nothing 

133 


1 

M 

3 

3 

IaJ 

5 

0 

6 

7 

0 

8 

e 

kd 

P5^ 

11 

IS 

n 

n 

m 

ExtmDles 

of  French  Guide  Boards. 

I.  Turn    left, 
ing.    4.  Under 
roads.      6.  Raise 
Steep  ascent,     o 
10.  Turn    with 
12.   Road     depre 
Village.     15.  5Ba 

2.  Turn    right.     3.  Grade   cross- 

a    crossing.     5.  Dangerous     cross 
d      rails.     7-  Steep      descent.      8. 
Winding  descent  with  bad  turn. 
descent,     ii.  Turn    with     ascent. 
ssion.  13.  *'Thank-you-ma*am."  14. 
.  pavement. 

otoring  ^broab 


to  pay  for  in  a  country  where  a  little  money  buys 
a  great  deal,  they  evidently  subsist  pretty  well. 
These  gendarmes  pay  no  attention  to  motorists 
so  long  as  they  observe  the  simple  rules  of  the 
road  and  do  not  cause  damage.  There  is  some- 
where in  the  laws  of  France,  so  I  have  been  told, 
a  regulation  limiting  speed,  but  no  one  pays  the 
least  attention  to  it.  In  the  country  districts  the 
speed  limit  is,  by  common  consent,  the  limit  of 
your  car.  In  towns  they  are  very  much  more 
particular  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  there  are  few 
small  foreign  towns  in  which  any  one  could  run 
rapidly,  as  the  streets  are  too  narrow  and  too 
crowded. 

Motorists  are  stopped  at  the  city  gates  in  all 
the  large  places  and  are  supposed  to  pay  the 
octroi  or  city  tax  on  the  gasoline  in  the  tank, 
but  the  only  place  we  had  to  pay  money  was  on 
entering  Paris.  At  all  other  cities  we  offered 
to  show  how  much  we  had  in  the  tank  and 
that  was  suflScient. 

While  a  great  deal  of  stress  is  put  upon  the 
securing  of  a  license  and  a  ''Certificat  de  capacite 
four  la  conduite  des  automobiles  a  petrole,"  we 
were  not  asked  once  during  our  entire  trip  in 
France  to  show  either  of  the  licenses  which  we 
had,  or  questioned  regarding  them,  our  number, 

134 


24 Y5,  painted  on  our  radiator  being  all-sufficient. 
Nor  were  we  in  any  way  interfered  with  by 
officers  of  the  law.  Yet  there  is  no  country  in 
which  the  law  is  more  carefully  enforced,  nor  any 
in  which  there  is  a  government  more  closely  allied 
in  its  various  dependencies. 

There  is  no  difficulty  in  finding  one's  way 
about  France,  as  the  maps  and  the  guideposts 
are  perfect;  for  the  purpose  of  direction  it  is  not 
even  necessary  to  speak  the  language.  There 
is  no  necessity  to  buy  any  road  maps  of  France 
but  the  Cartes  Taride.  You  need  not  burden 
your  head  or  luggage  with  any  others.  They 
can  be  purchased  at  any  store  in  America  deal- 
ing in  foreign  publications  and  in  every  city  and 
town  in  France  at  one  franc  (twenty  cents)  for 
each  section  for  the  paper  ones  and  fifty  cents 
for  those  mounted  on  linen.  They  are  issued 
in  twenty-three  sections  and,  being  motor  maps, 
students  in  slang  can  see  where  we  get  our 
expression  "23."  You  can  buy  either  a  set 
covering  all  of  France  or  just  those  parts  which 
you  wish  to  visit.  They  show  the  different  types 
of  roads  perfectly  and  are  so  plainly  printed  and 
on  such  generous  scale  as  to  be  easily  read. 
The  main  roads,  or  what  are  called  the  Routes 
Nationale,  are  in  heavy  red  lines;    the  next  in 

135 


JHotoring  ^broab 


lighter  red  lines;  the  third  best  in  two  parallel 
lines  and  the  smaller  roads  in  fine  black  lines. 
Every  road  is  accurately  shown  and  one  can  take 
a  Carte  Taride  and,  once  out  of  the  city,  go 
straight  to  his  destination  without  asking  a  single 
question. 

The  Michelin  Tire  Company  and  also  the 
Continental  Company  issue  for  free  distribution 
large  guidebooks  giving  a  vast  amount  of  valu- 
able information  as  to  facilities  and  accommoda- 
tions in  towns,  locations  of  garages,  repair  shops, 
hotels,  supply  houses,  etc.  The  guides  may  be 
procured  free  at  all  agencies  of  the  companies. 


136 


• 


II  WilTF.  TIITtOVnu  rCNGLA.VD^  IRELAND.  srOTLASD  ASI>  W  t  I.ES 


% 


Then  swung  our  car  on  its  platform  high  in  the 
air  and  lowered  it  gentl;/  to  the  deck  where  it 
remained  until  we  reached  Folkestone. 


r      M  'S 


■■    =.ir-H    1 


Cfjaptcr  Ctoeltje 
Jfrom  Jfolfeeflitonc  to  Honbon 


Cfiapter  ^toelbe 

J^irribal  at  Jfolfeegtone,  Cnglanti,  anti  tJje  ©rip  to 
ilonbon 

OUR  trip  across  the  Channel  was  quite  the 
reverse  from  the  often-described  and 
always-expected  passage.  Instead  of 
cutting  up  the  various  kind  of  nautical  antics  for 
which  it  is  famous,  the  Channel  was  particularly 
calm  and  peaceful  and  there  was  practically  no 
motion  whatever  on  the  swift-running  boat. 

We  watched  with  regret  the  shores  of  France 
sink  out  of  sight.  We  had  had  a  most  delightful 
trip  within  her  fair  boundaries,  and  were  carry- 
ing away  with  us  memories  which  would  never 
grow  dim.  After  the  last  twinkling  light  of  the 
shore  had  faded  from  sight  we  went  to  the  dining 
saloon,  and  had  hardly  finished  dinner  when  we 
approached  the  English  coast.  The  first  thing 
noticeable  was  the  long  line  of  brilliant  electric 
lights  studding  the  top  of  the  cliffs,  and  marking 
the  course  of  the  beautiful  promenade,  or  Front, 
as  it  is  called,  at  Folkestone.     The  lights  can  be 

139 


ittotoring  ^tiroab 


seen,  like  a  string  of  pearls,  from  far  out  at  sea. 
Later  the  lights  of  the  lower  town  came  into  view, 
dimmed  at  regular  intervals  by  the  brilliant  flash- 
ing of  the  Folkestone  lighthouse  at  the  entrance 
to  the  harbor. 

Almost  as  soon  as  the  steamer  had  been  made 
fast  to  the  quay  and  we  had  gone  ashore,  the 
huge  steam  derrick  was  swung  around  and  the 
chain  dropped  into  the  hold  of  the  boat  and  our 
car  was  swung  high  in  the  air  and  lowered  safely 
on  the  quay.  Prior  to  leaving  New  York  I  had 
written  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Automobile  Club 
of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  in  London  and  he 
had  procured  my  English  licenses  and  number 
plates  and  sent  them  to  me  at  Havre.  We  had 
therefore  no  formalities  of  this  sort  to  attend  to, 
and  before  Ave  left  the  quay  we  had  affixed  to 
our  "Loco"  the  blue-enameled  plates  bearing  our 
number,  L.  C.  7179  in  white  letters,  and  were 
fully-fledged  English  motorists.  The  agent  of 
the  company  had  a  can  of  gasoline  ready  for  us, 
and  within  fifteen  minutes  after  the  boat  touched 
the  quay,  as  there  are  no  customs  to  be  paid  in 
England,  we  were  in  the  car  headed  for  Wam- 
pach's  Hotel,  situated  in  the  most  fashionable 
part  of  the  cliffs. 

We  were  not  entire  strangers  in  Folkestone, 

140 


^rribal  at  Jfolfecgtone 


but  as  it  is  a  place  of  considerable  size  and  it  was 
dark,  we  deemed  it  best  to  give  a  man  on  the 
dock  a  shilling  to  get  into  the  car  with  us  and 
direct  us  to  the  hotel. 

This  was  distinctly  English  in  style  and  so 
different  from  the  inns  we  had  stopped  at  in 
France  that  the  contrast  was  most  noticeable. 
It  was,  however,  a  most  comfortable  place  and 
admirably  managed. 

As  soon  as  our  luggage  had  been  brought  to 
our  rooms  w^e  started  out  for  a  stroll  along  the 
Front,  which  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  prome- 
nades in  Europe.  The  broad  walk,  brilliantly 
lighted,  skirts  the  very  edge  of  the  cliffs  for  a  long 
distance  far  above  the  sea.  Between  it  and  the 
houses  facing  the  sea  is  the  wide  parkway,  most 
attractive  either  by  day  or  night.  It  was  that 
evening  really  a  scene  of  gayety,  if  one  can  say 
that  anything  is  ever  gay  in  England.  Great 
throngs  w^ere  promenading  or  forming  part  of 
the  large  crowd  surrounding  the  bands. 

Thousands  of  people  cross  yearly  to  and  from 
England  and  the  Continent  by  the  Folkestone- 
Boulogne  route,  transferring  from  the  train  to 
the  boat  on  the  quay,  without  getting  a  glimpse 
of  the  delightful  features  of  either  of  these 
places.     While  each  place  is  a  seashore  resort 

141 


otoring  ^broab 


they  are  totally  different;  Boulogne  having  all 
of  the  characteristics  of  Dieppe  and  Trouville, 
and  Folkestone  all  the  formality  and  solidity  of 
English  resorts. 

The  morning  after  our  arrival  we  ran  over  to 
Dover  and  here  we  had  the  first  real  opportunity 
to  test  the  hill-climbing  abilities  of  our  Loco- 
mobile. Any  motor  car  which  will  go  up  Castle 
Hill  at  Dover  without  default  will  climb  any  hill 
up  which  a  man  has  a  right  to  drive  a  motor.  It 
is  not  only  precipitous,  but  is  full  of  sharp  turns 
where  there  is  no  opportunity  to  get  a  running 
start.  This  hill  is  on  the  road  which  takes  one 
from  the  sea  level,  or  the  business  section  of 
Dover,  up  to  the  summit  of  the  chalk  cliffs  which 
are  one  of  the  notable  landmarks  of  the  English 
Channel.  It  was  a  severe  test,  but  our  car 
was  true  to  our  ideals,  and,  although  there  were 
six  of  us  in  the  party  it  took  us  to  the  summit 
steadily  and  without  missing  an  explosion.  The 
hill  is  a  dangerous  one  to  climb  without  the 
stoutest  kind  of  brakes.  If  a  car  should  start 
to  back  there  are  places  where  it  would  be  in 
danger  of  going  over  the  precipitous  cliffs,  a 
performance  which  would  upset  all  calculations 
as  well  as  the  car  and  its  occupants,  with  prob- 
ably fatal  results.     It  was  really  the  first  time 

142 


^rribal  at  Jfolfeejftone 


that  we  had  occasion  to  think  of  the  extra  heavy 
additional  brakes  which  we  had  had  put  on  the 
car  before  we  left  America.  We  found  many 
places  in  Scotland  later  where  the  extra  brakes 
were  necessary,  and  it  is  a  fixture  which  I  would 
urge  all  persons  who  intend  touring  Great  Britain 
to  add  to  their  car. 

We  spent  a  day  and  two  nights  at  Folkestone 
and  then  started  for  London  by  way  of  Sandwich 
and  Canterbury;  the  route  is  rather  roundabout 
and  indirect,  but  it  was  our  idea  to  revisit  Sand- 
wich for  another  game  of  golf  on  its  famous 
links  on  which  many  great  matches  have  been 
decided. 

Our  route  took  us  again  to  Dover  and  thence 
by  way  of  Deal  to  Sandwich.  After  the  game 
and  luncheon  at  Sandwich  we  went  on  to  Canter- 
bury, a  run  of  about  an  hour,  where  we  had  a 
passing  glimpse  of  the  beautiful  Canterbury 
Cathedral  which  we  had  visited  on  a  previous 
trip. 

From  Canterbury  we  turned  south  into  the 
charming  Kent  country  and  after  a  run  of  fifteen 
miles  reached  the  great  estate  and  home  of  Lord 
who  had  extended  a  most  cordial  invita- 
tion to  us  to  spend  a  few  days  at  his  country- 
house.     Those  who  have  visited  at  one  of  these 

143 


iflotoring  ^tiroab 


delightful  country-houses,  of  which  England  has 
so  many,  need  not  be  told  of  the  pleasures  of 
these  three  days.  The  English  are  masters  in 
hospitality  and  the  graciousness  of  the  welcome 
with  which  we  were  received  made  us  feel  per- 
fectly at  home  even  before  the  maids  had  un- 
packed and  placed  in  the  dressers  all  of  the 
belongings  of  the  ladies  of  our  party,  and  the 
valet  had  emptied  my  trunk,  and  my  son's,  and 
taken  our  clothes  off  to  press  them.  Hot  tea 
and  crumpets  were  served  to  us  as  soon  as  we 
had  reached  our  apartments  and  maids  were 
assigned  to  each  of  our  ladies  and  a  valet  to  my 
son  and  myself. 

As  we  sat  at  the  windows  in  the  early  evening 
and  looked  out  over  the  vast  lawns  with  their 
huge  trees  and  the  great  estate  lying  beyond,  we 
could  not  but  feel  that  the  English  of  all  others 
have  learned  how  best  to  enjoy  the  country  and 
to  beautify  it  by  making  the  most  of  the  natural 
surroundings,  and  not  destroying  them  with  too 
much  artificiality.  Each  morning  we  breakfasted 
under  the  wide-spreading  branches  of  an  enor- 
mous beech,  I  commented  one  day  on  the 
velvety  appearance  of  the  lawn,  which  was  the 
finest  I  had  ever  seen.  "  They  should  be  fairly 
good,"  replied  his  lordship,  *'for  they  have  been 

144 


TT'e  breakfasted  injormaJhj  on  the  lawn  which 
was  as  smooth  as   velret. 


^rribal  at  jTolfeeflJtone 


upkept  as  lawns  for  more  than  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  by  the  different  families  living  on 
this  estate." 

Our  time  here  was  employed  largely  as  we 
chose,  for,  according  to  the  English  custom,  we 
did  not  see  either  our  host  or  hostess  until  after 
luncheon.  We  spent  the  forenoons  in  wander- 
ing over  the  great  estate,  or  in  visiting  nearby 
places  of  interest,  for  there  were  several  motor 
cars  in  the  garage  and  twice  as  many  horses  at 
the  disposal  of  the  guests.  There  was  no  for- 
mality until  the  dinner,  which  was  an  affair  of 
considerable  ceremony. 

The  end  of  our  visit  came  all  too  soon  and  as 
we  left  we  were  loaded  down  with  flowers  while 
the  white-haired  old  gardener  came  to  us  bring- 
ing a  good-sized  basket  filled  with  enormous 
hothouse  grapes  which  "would  be  quite  refresh- 
ing," as  he  put  it,  on  our  ride  into  London. 

In  our  trip  to  the  city,  we  passed  rapidly 
through  Chatham  and  then  crossed  the  bridge 
to  Rochester,  famous  like  Canterbury  for  its 
great  cathedral,  the  original  of  which  was  con- 
secrated in  604.  In  the  suburbs  of  Rochester 
we  stopped  for  a  few  minutes  at  Gad's  Hill  Place, 
famed  wherever  literature  is  known  as  the  home 
in  which  Charles  Dickens  spent  the  last  years  of 

145 


[otortng  ^droab 


his  life.  We  were  shown  by  the  present  occupant 
of  the  house,  a  genial  Londoner,  the  library  in 
which  Dickens  wrote.  His  old  bookshelves  are 
still  there,  filled  with  the  books  of  his  choice, 
and  there  are  many  little  things,  as  well  as  the 
furniture  of  the  house,  which  were  there  during 
the  famous  novelist's  life.  Across  the  road  from 
the  house  is  the  grove  of  great  trees  called  the 
"Wilderness,"  where  Dickens  used  to  walk  when 
seeking  solitude  and  quiet.  To  permit  him  to 
go  from  his  home  to  the  woods  without  observa- 
tion a  tunnel  had  been  constructed  under  the 
road. 

The  run  from  Rochester  to  Greenwich  was 
short  and  here  we  reached  the  suburbs  of  Lon- 
don. The  surroundings  changed  very  rapidly 
and  an  hour  before  dark  we  found  ourselves  in 
the  thickly  settled  section  of  the  south  side  of  the 
city.  Here  the  vehicles,  including  a  countless 
number  of  huge  motor  'busses,  were  very  numer- 
ous and  we  had  to  watch  closely  to  avoid  col- 
lisions because  of  our  intuitive  disposition  to 
turn  to  the  right  instead  of  to  the  left  in  passing 
teams,  although  we  were  surprised  to  see  how 
easily  we  had  dropped  into  the  English  custom. 

We  came  into  the  city  over  the  Old  Kent  Road, 
turning  later  into  the  New  Kent  Road  and  fol- 

146 


^rribal  at  Jfolfecstonc 


lowing  that  to  the  London  Road  which  enters  the 
famous  Blackfriars  Road  at  its  "top,"  as  they 
say  in  London.  Once  on  that  road  we  had  a 
straight  stretch  to  the  Blackfriars  Bridge  across 
the  Thames.  As  soon  as  we  had  crossed  it  we 
recognized  our  surroundings  and  turned  into  the 
Victoria  Embankment,  following  it  down  past 
the  great  clubs  and  public  buildings  to  North- 
umberland Avenue,  and  the  portal  of  the  Metro- 
pole  Hotel. 


147 


chapter  QTIjirteen 

Cnfiligf)  Motor  Clubs;  anb 
3^oab  JJlaps; 


chapter  tlfjirteen 

Cngligf)  JHotor  Cluljg  anb  3^oab  iHapg 

THE  two  days  we  spent  in  London  were 
most  agreeable  ones,  but  here  as  in  Paris, 
because  of  the  dense  traflSc  on  the  streets, 
we  preferred  to  use  public  conveyances  about 
the  city  rather  than  our  own  car. 

I  called  upon  Mr.  J.  W.  Orde,  Secretary  of  the 
Automobile  Club  of  Great  Britain,  to  express  my 
thanks  for  the  assistance  he  had  rendered  me 
and  the  courtesies  he  and  the  Club  had  extended. 

We  also  visited  the  Touring  Department  which 
the  Club  maintains  at  16  Downs  Street  for  the 
benefit  of  visiting  motorists  and  members  of  the 
Club.  We  found  there  several  courteous  and 
painstaking  officials  who  gave  us  all  the  time 
necessary  to  discuss  our  proposed  trip  in  Eng- 
land, Scotland,  Ireland  and  Wales.  They  also 
gave  us  a  vast  amount  of  information  and  valu- 
able suggestions.  They  supplied  us  with  all  of 
the  maps  needed  and  apparently  took  a  keen, 
personal    interest    in    our    trip.     For    all    their 

151 


otoring  ^broab 


services  there  was  no  charge  whatever,  except 
the  cost  of  maps.  This  department,  which  is 
maintained  at  the  expense  of  the  Automobile 
Club  of  Great  Britain,  has  done  much  to  popu- 
larize touring  and  make  it  easy,  especially  for 
strangers.  Any  motorist,  whether  a  member  of 
the  Club  or  not,  may  procure  here  all  information 
desired,  even  as  to  where  police  traps  are  placed, 
and  where  it  is  well  to  be  cautious.  The  laws 
regulating  speed  are  very  much  more  sharply 
enforced  in  England  than  in  any  other  foreign 
country.  Twenty  miles  an  hour  is  the  maximum 
speed  allowed  anywhere,  although  in  most  places 
in  the  open  country  one  may,  with  safety,  ex- 
ceed it.  This  department  keeps  fully  in  touch 
with  the  road  conditions  and  so  perfect  is  its 
knowledge  of  the  entire  subject  that  the  clerk 
marked  for  me  one  bit  of  road  covering  about 
ten  miles  on  our  proposed  route  in  Scotland, 
which  was  under  repair  at  that  time,  and  told  me 
just  how  to  avoid  it  and  just  which  alternate 
road  to  take,  marking  it  out  very  carefully  on 
my  route  map. 

A  word  about  road-maps  for  use  in  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland.  The  ones  most  universally 
used  are  Bartholomews'.  These  are  published 
in  sections  mounted  on  either  cloth  or  paper  and 

152 


Theup  beautiful  towns  in  rural  Etuiland  are 
generally  attractive  to  the  ei/e  both  in  themselves 
and  in  their  surroundings. 


Cnglisf)  iHotor  Clubg  anb  B^oab  iWapg 

sold  at  two  shillings  and  one  shilling  respectively 
per  section.  They  may  be  had  on  a  scale  of  two 
miles  or  one  mile  to  the  inch.  The  former  are 
much  preferable  as  they  are  more  easily  read. 
There  are  thirty-seven  sections  for  England  and 
Wales;  twenty-eight  for  Scotland  and  seven  for 
Ireland.  It  is,  of  course,  only  necessary  to  pur- 
chase the  sections  covering  the  territory  to  be 
visited,  but  it  is  advisable  to  procure  the  maps 
direct  of  the  publishers,  John  Bartholomew  & 
Co.,  or  from  some  leading  bookseller  in  New 
York  or  London,  in  order  to  be  certain  of  having 
the  latest  editions.  Bartholomews'  Map  of  Lon- 
don is  indispensable  and  can  be  bought  mounted 
on  cloth  for  two  shillings. 

The  maps  published  by  Perrier,  the  Natural 
Sparkling  Water  Company,  are  most  excellent 
and  we  used  them  almost  exclusively.  They 
are  splendidly  printed,  mounted  on  linen  and 
very  clear  and  more  easily  read  in  a  motor  than 
any  other.  They  can  be  secured  of  George 
Phillips,  32  Fleet  Street,  London,  or  Brentano, 
New  York,  and  cost  ten  shillings  for  England 
and  the  same  for  Scotland. 

In  addition  to  these  maps  there  are  what  are 
called  strip  maps  of  many  of  the  chief  roads  in 
Great  Britain,  published  by  Gall    &  Inglis,  25 

153 


[otorins  ^broab 


Paternoster  Row,  London,  which  are  more  con- 
venient than  the  larger  maps  where  they  can  be 
used.  They  are  about  five  and  one-half  inches 
wide  and  a  yard  long  and  embrace  a  section  of 
country  only  a  few  miles  on  each  side  of  the 
road.  They  are  so  folded  that  the  pages  may 
be  turned  like  a  book  and  the  map  read  right 
along  from  start  to  finish  in  either  direction. 
The  distances  are  shown  on  the  scale  of  one-half 
inch  to  the  mile  and  on  the  margin  there  is  a 
contour  line  showing  all  the  grades  and  eleva- 
tions. These  maps  may  be  used  to  advantage 
on  trips  between  chief  cities  such  as  London 
and  Edinburgh,  and  can  be  purchased  at  any 
well-known  bookstore  in  Great  Britain  at  one 
shilling  each. 

Two  very  comprehensive  books  can  be  used 
in  conjunction  with  any  of  the  foregoing  maps. 
One  is  the  "Car  Road  Book"  which  gives  a 
large  amount  of  valuable  data  regarding  towns, 
distances,  etc.  This  book  is  published  annually 
by  "The  Car  Illustrated,"  London,  and  costs 
twelve  shillings,  sixpence.  The  other  and  more 
important  book  is  called  "The  Contour  Book." 
It  is  published  in  three  volumes  covering  differ- 
ent sections,  at  two  shillings  each,  or  all  in  one 
volume  at  five  shillings.     It  contains  1,100  routes 

154 


Cnsligf)  iWotor  Clubg  anb  Eoatr  iHapg 

and  1,500  maps  and  plans  and  is  indispensable. 
These  books  give  the  grades,  elevations,  etc.,  on 
all  the  chief  roads  of  Great  Britain.  They  can 
be  procured  through  any  leading  bookseller  in 
the  United  States. 

All  motorists  going  to  England  should  join  the 
Motor  Union.  Membership  in  this  Society  may 
be  secured  in  advance  of  arrival  by  addressing 
the  Secretary  at  1  Albemarle  Street,  Piccadilly, 
London,  W.  The  annual  subscription  is  but  one 
guinea  ($5.25).  The  Union's  Touring  Depart- 
ment and  the  facilities  membership  affords  in 
securing  rebates  from  the  hotels  recommended 
will  return  the  money  invested  many  times  over. 
The  officials  are  very  courteous  and  seem  to  take 
pleasure  in  doing  everything  possible  to  add  to 
the  comfort  of  visiting  motorists. 


155 


chapter  Jfourteen 

Jf  rom  ILonbon  to  ^cotlanb  hp 
tfje  (great  i^ortf)  aaoab 


chapter  jFoutteen 
jfrom  Honbon  to  ^cotlanb  0\itv  tfje  ^reat 

WE  left  the  Metropole  in  London  bright 
and  early  on  one  of  those  beautiful 
mornings  so  frequently  enjoyed  in 
England  during  the  summer  season.  We  crossed 
Trafalgar  Square  and  turning  into  the  Hay- 
market,  passed  through  Piccadilly  Circus  and 
thence  into  Regent  Street,  turning  to  the  left 
into  Oxford  Street,  thence  into  Orchard  Street, 
which  we  followed  until  we  reached  Baker  Street, 
turning  into  it  on  the  right  and  continuing  to 
Park  Road  which  encircles  Regents  Park.  When 
we  reached  the  fork  of  Park  Road  and  Welling- 
ton Street  we  took  the  latter  and  followed  it  until 
it  becomes  Finchley  Road  at  the  Marlboro  Road 
station.  We  were  then  on  the  straight  road 
toward  Edinburgh.  I  have  given  these  direc- 
tions rather  minutely  because  London  is  a  great 
city  with  an  almost  incomprehensible  maze  of 
streets,  and  we  had  considerable  trouble  getting 

159 


iHotorins  ^broab 


a  definite  route  out  of  it.  This  reminds  me  of 
some  directions  we  received  from  one  of  the 
always  poHte  "bobbies."  We  had  asked  him 
for  information  and  he  replied  "Bend  with  the 
road  and  only  turn  over  when  you  are  ten  or 
a  dozen  doors  down" — all  of  which  meant,  we 
discovered,  that  we  would  come  to  a  turn  in  the 
road  and  after  we  had  passed  a  dozen  houses  we 
should  cross  over  from  our  side — the  Londoners 
are  great  sticklers  for  keeping  on  the  proper  side 
— and  take  the  road  leading  off  from  the  opposite 
side. 

The  Great  North  Road,  over  which  we  were  to 
motor  all  the  way  to  Edinburgh,  took  us  through 
Finchley  about  seven  miles  from  the  center  of 
London ;  and  then  through  Chipping  and  Barnet 
to  Hatfield,  which  is  twenty  miles  out.  Hatfield 
House,  situated  here,  is  the  seat  of  the  Marquis 
of  Salisbury.  The  original  house,  which  was 
built  between  1100  and  1200,  is  associated  closely 
with  the  history  of  the  early  reigns  of  England. 
As  far  as  Hatfield  the  road  is  compactly  built  up 
on  either  side;  the  houses  being  very  attractive, 
although  not  pretentious.  It  is  very  different 
from  the  suburbs  through  which  we  had  passed 
in  approaching  London.  There  are  relatively 
few  manufacturing  establishments  to  the  north, 

160 


As  we  stopped  at  Biickden  fnr  luncheon  at 
noon  hour  the  school  children  took  great  interest 
in  our  car. 


:f  rom  lonbon  to  ^cotlanb 


and  altogether  a  better  class  of  suburban  homes. 
Before  we  reached  Hatfield  we  had  already 
been  impressed  with  the  magnificence  of  this 
Great  North  Road,  which  is  said  to  have  been 
built  upon  the  order  of  a  Mr.  Caesar  whose 
headquarters  were  in  Rome  at  that  time.  It  is 
the  direct  route  from  London  to  Edinburgh  and 
has  been  traveled  for  so  many  centuries  that  the 
earliest  histories  of  England  contain  accounts  of 
the  movement  of  troops  upon  it.  It  is  a  great 
thoroughfare  for  vehicles  of  all  sorts,  motorists 
and  cyclists,  and  there  are  well-worn  footpaths 
along  either  side  for  pedestrians,  for  much  of  its 
length.  We  passed  scores  of  motors  of  all  sorts 
and  sizes  and  previous  conditions  of  service,  and 
I  was  creditably  informed  that  the  popularity  of 
motoring  had  noticeably  diminished  the  number 
of  first-class  travelers  by  rail.  We  found  the 
road  throughout  its  entire  four  hundred  miles  in 
perfect  condition  and  in  many  portions  the  mac- 
adam is  said  to  be  nine  feet  thick.  Long  sections 
are  oiled  and  on  no  part  of  it  was  there  any  ap- 
preciable amount  of  dust.  There  are  few  sharp 
curves  and  the  grades  are  so  slight  that  it  has 
become  a  great  thoroughfare  for  speeders,  with 
the  result  that  there  are  many  police  traps  for 
which  one  has  to  keep  a  sharp  lookout.     We 

161 


jUlotoring  ^broali 


found  that  we  could  stop  in  almost  any  little 
village  and  get  information  as  to  just  where  these 
traps  were  located;  as,  for  instance,  they  told  us 
at  Biggleswade — a  better  looking  place  than  its 
name  implies — to  look  out  for  traps  just  the 
other  side  of  Buckden  and  again  in  approaching 
Weston. 

The  country  through  which  we  were  traveling 
was  one  of  the  greatest  attraction,  for  no  region 
is  more  beautiful  than  rural  England.  The 
moist  climate  and  frequent  rains  keep  the  grass, 
trees  and  hedges  at  the  freshest  shade  of  green. 
They  have  learned  in  England  to  get  the  best 
out  of  the  general  landscape,  and  the  result  is  a 
more  restful  and  pleasing  ensemble  than  we  are 
apt  to  see  in  America.  This  is  perhaps  largely 
due  to  the  fact  that  many  of  the  great  estates 
have  been  kept  in  the  same  families  for  genera- 
tions and  the  work  of  development  and  improve- 
ment has  followed  the  same  vein  of  taste,  and 
each  new  owner  has  not  torn  the  place  to  pieces 
with  a  view  of  gratifying  his  own  individual 
whims  as  to  landscape  gardening  and  architec- 
ture. The  lawns,  the  farms,  the  houses  and  the 
people  all  look  well-kept  and  prosperous  and 
many  of  the  estates  betokened  generations    of 

wealth  and  refinement. 

162 


Jfrom  ItonlJon  to  ^cotlanb 


The  inns  which  we  passed  and  even  the  wine 
shops,  gloried  in  pretentious  names  which 
were  generally  displayed  in  illustrated  signs 
hanging  on  brackets.  We  had  great  fun  in 
watching  for  these  odd  signs  and  writing  down 
some  of  the  most  unusual.  We  passed  "The 
Red  Bull,"  and  in  neighborly  proximity  "The 
Red  Cow"  and  "The  Dun  Cow."  "Sir  John 
Barleycorn"  was  near  enough  to  hear  "The  Five 
Bells,"  and  just  beyond  this,  as  if  not  to  be  out- 
done in  the  bell  line,  the  proprietor  of  one  inn 
had  called  his  place  "The  Ring  o'  Bells."  Later 
we  passed  "The  Easy  Chair"  and  "Wait  for  the 
Wagon,"  "The  Nag's  Head,"  "The  Spread 
Eagle,"  and  down  near  the  end  of  the  list  we 
recorded  "The  Black  Boy"  and  "The  Head, 
Hand  and  Stomach." 

Luncheon  time  found  us  at  the  quaint  little 
town  of  Buckden,  sixty-two  miles  from  London. 
We  drew  up  in  front  of  the  Lion  Inn,  which 
looked  particularly  inviting  with  its  windows 
filled  with  bright  flowers,  and  the  young  wife  of 
the  proprietor  cooked  for  us  a  delicious  luncheon, 
preparing  it  after  we  arrived.  It  was  so  enjoy- 
able and  everything  was  so  particularly  good 
that  after  the  bill  had  been  paid  I  slipped  back 
to  find  the  cook,  and  to  compliment  her  on  the 

163 


otoring  ^broab 


luncheon.  Handing  her  a  two-shilUng  piece  I 
remarked  that  she  had  given  us  the  most  deUcious 
luncheon  we  had  had  in  England.  With  a  smile 
which  illuminated  her  rosy  face  she  looked  up 
at  me  and  said:  "Well,  if  the  Gov'ner  weren't 
about  I'd  kiss  ye  for  that."  I  simply  mention 
this  incident  to  show  that  little  acts  of  kindness 
and  little  deeds  well  done  often  produce  aston- 
ishing results. 

The  proprietor  of  the  Lion  Inn  told  us  that  he 
had  served  his  time  in  the  Royal  Navy  and  had 
now  retired  to  the  country  to  spend  his  days  in 
peace.  I  presume  that  he  has  a  very  good  busi- 
ness in  furnishing  meals  to  motorists.  Certainly 
the  excellence  of  his  unpretentious  house  war- 
rants it.  He  was  particularly  anxious  that  none 
of  the  constables  should  catch  us  speeding  and 
cautioned  us  particularly  about  a  trap  just  be- 
yond Buckden.  He  told  us  that  if  we  would 
look  into  the  bushes  on  the  left  at  a  particular 
spot  we  should  see  the  constables,  and  sure 
enough  we  discovered  them  crouching  partly 
hidden  behind  the  foliage,  first  one  and  about 
three  hundred  yards  beyond  another,  with  a 
third  even  farther  up  the  road  ready  to  step  out 
and  stop  us  in  case  he  had  been  signaled  to  do 
so  by  the  other  two.     A  word  to  the  wise,  how- 

164 


«4    a 


•2   ~^ 
a   c 


Jfrom  Eonbon  to  ^cotlanb 


ever,  had  been  sufficient  and  we  passed  the  trap 
at  such  a  snail's  pace  that  even  the  constables 
themselves  were  forced  to  return  our  sarcastic 
smiles. 

When  we  had  gone  a  few  miles  farther,  a  good 
Samaritan,  whom  we  passed  on  the  road,  told  us 
to  be  very  careful  not  only  in  approaching  Stilton 
but  in  passing  through  the  town  itself  and  not  to 
undertake  to  make  any  speed  whatever  until  we 
had  passed  the  Norman  Cross  Inn  about  two 
miles  nr^th  of  Stilton.  Stilton  has  for  many 
years  been  famous  for  its  cheeses,  and  has  now 
in  these  later  days  become  famous  for  the  enter- 
prise of  its  constables  in  holding  up  motorists. 

The  run  from  Buckden  to  Retford,  a  hundred 
and  forty-seven  miles  from  London,  gave  us  a 
continuous  succession  of  delightful  panoramic 
views.  We  were  in  the  heart  of  old  England 
where  apparently  every  one  was  thrifty  and  pros- 
perous, and  we  frequently  commented  on  the 
great  number  of  bicyclists  we  passed.  Bicycling 
is  not  only  still  a  fad  but  the  bicycle  is  used 
over  all  of  Great  Britain  as  a  mode  of  convey- 
ance for  people  in  moderate  circumstances.  I 
doubt  if  there  was  a  day  during  our  return  trip 
in  Great  Britain  that  we  did  not  pass  on  the  road 
a  hundred  well-dressed  ladies  and  gentlemen  on 

165 


otorins  ^broab 


wheels,  usually  in  groups  or  couples;  it  seemed 
to  be  one  of  the  most  popular  methods  of  spend- 
ing a  vacation  outing. 

About  a  mile  beyond  Retford  we  passed  "Ye 
Olde  Bell,"  a  hotel  which  had  all  the  outward 
signs  of  being  a  delightful  place.  We  intended 
to  reach  Doncaster  or  Durham  for  the  night,  but 
after  we  had  passed  this  house  about  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  we  saw  a  constable  patrolling  the  road 
and  drawing  up  alongside  of  him  I  asked  if  it 
would  be  a  nice  place  to  stop  all  night.  "Huh!" 
he  replied,  with  apparent  disgust  at  our  igno- 
rance, "hit's  one  of  the  finest  'ouses  in  hall  Hing- 
land,  Sir."  This  was  enough  for  us;  we  turned 
around  and  returned  to  the  inn. 

The  constable's  estimate  was  entirely  correct. 
It  is  certainly  one  of  the  finest  inns  in  all  Eng- 
land and  it  is  well  worth  a  long  detour  on  a 
motoring  trip  to  spend  a  night  at  this  fascinating 
house.  We  learned  the  history  of  the  place 
while  we  were  sitting  on  the  lawn  of  the  beautiful, 
wall-enclosed  gardens  back  of  the  house  in  the 
long  evening  twilight  after  dinner.  It  is  owned 
by  the  Road  Club,  an  organization  of  which  Lord 
Montague  is  the  head.  This  club,  since  the 
beginning  of  motoring,  has  purchased  or  leased 
a   number   of   old   houses   which   were   famous 

166 


jfrom  HonDon  to  ^cotlanb 


during  coaching  days,  and  has  refitted  and  fur- 
nished them  throughout  with  beautiful  antique 
furniture,  and  plate  and  china  to  match.  They 
have  been  made  to  duplicate  as  nearly  as  possi- 
ble, the  old-style  houses  in  the  great  days  when 
lords  and  ladies  used  to  coach  through  the 
country.  The  service,  the  bedrooms  and  every- 
thing about  Ye  Olde  Bell  was  ideal,  and  to  add 
to  the  enjoyment  there  was  the  large,  purely 
Eno-lish  enclosed  garden  where  one  could  wander 
amid  flowers  and  under  the  shade  of  great  trees 
and  enjoy  to  the  fullest  degree  the  privacy  of 
English  garden  life.  The  illustrated,  painted 
oak  sign  of  this  house,  which  had  hung  for  many 
years  in  front  of  the  inn,  was  found  after  the 
place  had  been  renovated,  in  a  neighboring 
house  where  it  was  doing  service  as  a  table  top 
with  the  painted  side  down.  It  was  rescued 
from  its  commonplace  use,  the  painting  touched 
up  and  it  is  again,  after  a  lapse  of  forty  years, 
doino;  business  at  the  old  stand. 

It  was  with  genuine  regret  that  we  left  this 
fascinating  place  the  next  forenoon.  The  man- 
ager was  most  gracious  in  his  attentions  and  gave 
us  letters  of  introduction  to  other  houses  of  the 
Road  Club  farther  north.  While  all  of  these 
houses  are  open  to  motorists  not  members  of  the 

167 


iilotoring  Stiroab 


Club,  the  members  have  their  own  particular 
rooms  from  which  the  general  public  is  courte- 
ously excluded. 

The  Road  Club  is  a  most  successful  institution 
and  should  be  duplicated  in  this  country.  I  am 
sure  it  would  appeal  particularly  to  motorists  in 
the  United  States  if  an  organization  could  be 
formed  to  take  over  some  of  the  famous  old 
houses  in  the  East  and  operate  them  under  the 
management  of  an  organization  of  similar  scope 
and  plan. 

We  learned  at  Ye  Olde  Bell  that  there  was  a 
long  police  trap  just  beyond  Baw^try  and  this 
advance  information  probably  saved  us  trouble 
as  the  road  was  so  perfect  and  so  straight  that 
the  temptation  to  let  our  "Loco"  out  w^as  almost 
irresistible.  We  held  it  down,  however,  to  about 
fifteen  miles  an  hour  until  we  were  safely  beyond 
the  trouble;  from  there  into  Doncaster,  a  dis- 
tance of  about  twenty  miles,  we  made  good  time 
as  there  were  no  steep  hills  and  no  traps. 

As  we  passed  through  Doncaster,  we  had  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  the  celebrated  race  course, 
in  the  center  of  a  great  park,  where  the  famous 
St.  Leger  was  to  be  run  about  two  weeks  later. 
This  race  w^as  established  in  1778  and  has  been 
run  annually  since.     Many  of  the  finest  horses 

168 


jfrom  Honbon  to  ^cotlanb 


in  England  were  in  training  there  and  scores  of 
them  were  out  on  the  track  for  a  practice  gallop 
when  we  passed.  While  we  did  not  know  any 
of  the  names  of  the  sleek-limbed  beauties  we  had 
the  satisfaction  of  feeling  that  we  had  seen  the 
best  horses  in  England,  even  if  we  were  not  able 
to  identify  them. 


169 


chapter  Jfifteen 

Crofiifliing  tije  Jgorber  Hint 
into  ^cotlanb 


1..  JBk 

■LWt  .^    , 

1 

1 

— 

^^^^K^^^M^^H^^ 

It  was  a  glorious  morning  when  we  left  Aln- 
wick  and  crossed  the  bridge  in  full  view  of  the 
Duke  of  Northumberland's  castle. 


chapter  jFifteen 

Crosi£{ing  tfje  Porber  Xine  of  Cnglanb  anb 
^cotlanb 

AT  Doncaster  the  Great  North  Road  divides 
/-%  into  two  roads  running  ahnost  parallel 
and  only  a  few  miles  apart;  the  eastern 
road  leading  through  Selby  direct  to  York  and 
the  western  one  running  through  Wetherby  and 
Boroughbridge  to  the  west  of  the  city.  These 
roads  meet  again  at  North  Allerton,  and  the  only 
choice  between  them  is  that  one  takes  the  mo- 
torist into  the  city  of  York  and  the  other  takes 
him  around  it.  If  one  is  in  a  hurry  the  latter 
is  preferable,  but  York  is  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing cities  of  England. 

Its  history  runs  back  to  the  second  century 
when  it  was  for  a  period  the  residence  of  em- 
perors long  forgotten.  Constantine  the  Great  was 
proclaimed  here  in  306  a.d.  amid  high  doings. 
William  the  Conqueror,  whom  we  couldn't  lose 
in  France,  built  two  castles  here,  and  the  Romans 

173 


iHotoring  ^troab 


had  previously  built  a  great  wall  around  the 
town,  two  and  three-quarter  miles  in  length,  to 
keep  out  the  heathen  warriors.  Parts  of  the  old 
walls  are  still  standing.  The  popular  promenade 
is  around  the  top  of  the  new  wall,  so  called, 
although  it  was  built  before  Columbus  dis- 
covered America  and  before  our  own  New  York 
was  thought  of. 

The  York  Minster,  or  Cathedral,  is  one  of  the 
finest  and  most  famous  of  all  those  of  which 
England  is  justly  proud.  As  an  architectural 
creation  it  is  an  ideal  which  modern  designers 
have  not  equaled.  In  process  of  building  for 
over  three  hundred  years,  it  was  consecrated  in 
1472.  As  we  stood  before  its  wonderful  altar, 
in  the  subdued  light  of  early  evening,  we  could 
not  help  thinking  of  the  countless  throngs  who 
had  knelt  here  in  the  past  centuries  and  who  had 
passed  out  even  of  remembrance.  A  vesper 
song  service  was  being  held  while  we  were  there, 
and  the  mellow  tones  of  the  great  organ  and  the 
chanting  of  the  choir  were  wafted  in  sweet  har- 
mony through  the  transepts  and  nave  to  the 
farthest  corners  of  the  great  interior,  there  to  be 
lost  in  faint  echoes. 

It  is  but  a  short  run  from  York  to  Scarborough 
and  Bridlington,  popular  seashore  resorts  largely 

174 


Crogging;  tfje  Porber  Hint 


patronized,  but  as  Scotland  was  beckoning  us 
we  decided  to  omit  the  side-trip  and  to  push  on 
north. 

We  stopped  at  North  Allerton  for  hmcheon, 
and  reached  the  picturesque  town  of  Durham 
about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  crossing 
the  river  Weir  near  the  great  cathedral,  whose 
classic  lines  and  exquisite  surroundings  are 
familiar  wherever  architecture  is  known.  An 
hour  later  we  passed  through  Newcastle  and 
crossed  the  Tyne  by  the  wonderful  "high- 
level"  bridge  designed  by  Robert  Stephenson. 
This  is  112  feet  above  the  water;  the  railroad 
crosses  on  the  upper  part  and  vehicles  upon 
the  lower  roadway,  which  is  suspended  from 
the  upper  platform.  As  we  had  brought  no 
coals  to  Newcastle,  and  as  it  is  a  most  unin- 
teresting town,  being  the  great  coal  center  of 
England,  we  pushed  on  over  the  splendid  road 
through  Morpeth,  passing  through  the  old  Ro- 
man archway  over  the  main  street  at  the 
entrance  to  Alnwick  just  as  twilight  had  begun 
to  merge  into  night. 

This  town  is  the  seat  of  the  Duke  of  North- 
umberland whose  castle  is  one  of  the  finest  feudal 
piles  in  England.  It  is  one  of  the  favorite  visit- 
ing places  of  King  Edward  and  the  town  is  often 

175 


otoring  ^broab 


en  fete  because  of  the  presence  of  the  King  and 
royalty.  The  castle,  which  has  been  thoroughly 
restored,  is  said  to  contain  a  most-interesting 
collection  of  antiquities  and  many  rare  paintings. 
The  Norman  gateway  of  the  castle,  built  in  the 
twelfth  century,  is  one  of  the  most  noted  single 
architectural  features  of  England.  We  had 
hoped  to  enter  it,  but  evidently  we  were  not 
expected,  so  the  best  that  w^e  could  do  was  to 
take  a  photograph  of  ourselves  in  the  car  directly 
in  front  of  it.  We  felt  that  this  would,  at  least, 
show  our  intentions  if  not  our  accomplishments. 
We  spent  the  night  at  Alnwick  at  the  White 
Swan.  W^e  would  like  to  forget  the  hotel,  but 
we  will  never  forget  the  obsequious  waiter  who, 
no  matter  what  we  asked  him,  bowed  gravel 
and  answered:  "Yes,  sur'um."  For  the  sake  ( 
making  conversation  and  being  agreeable, 
incidentally  remarked  that  the  boiled  potatoe 
were  very  good.  "Yes,  sur'um,"  he  replied,  and 
immediately  put  two  more  on  my  plate.  To  keep 
the  joke  going,  different  members  of  the  par.y 
united  in  complimenting  the  potatoes  and  the 
result  was  that  our  plates  were  all  loaded,  and 
in  the  morning  at  breakfast  we  found  little  else 
on  the  table  but  potatoes.  He  was  evidently  a 
susceptible  old  waiter  and  is  doubtless  talking 

176 


We  stopped  in  front  of  the  feudal  entrance 
to  the  Duke  of  Northumberland's  Castle,  but 
no  one  invited  us  to  enter. 


Croslging  tfje  Jiorlier  Eine 


to  this  day  about  the  party  of  voracious  potato- 
eating  Americans  which  visited  his  house. 

From  Ahiwick  north  through  Belford  to  Ber- 
wick-on-Tweed  was  a  run  of  about  thirty  miles, 
quickly  made,  and  just  beyond  the  city  we 
crossed  the  river  which  marks  the  dividing:  line 
between  England  and  Scotland.  The  road  here 
bends  nearer  the  coast  and  for  the  next  ten  miles 
we  were  within  sight  of  the  North  Sea.  We 
passed  through  Berwick  and  pushed  on  through 
Cockburnspath  where  we  again  picked  up  the 
view^  of  the  sea,  which  we  had  continuously  from 
there  on  to  Dunbar. 

At  Dunbar  we  stopped  for  luncheon  at  the 
Bellevue,  another  of  the  houses  of  the  Road  Club. 
The  hotel  is  ideally  located  on  a  high  cliff  over- 
looking the  ocean,  less  than  a  stone's  throw  away. 
It  is  an  exceedingly  sightly  place  for  a  public 
house,  as  the  curve  of  the  shore  line  makes  the 
coast  visible  for  miles  in  either  direction  and 
affords  a  view  which  is  surprisingly  beautiful. 

Dunbar  is  a  popular  resort  largely  frequented 
in  summer.  It  has  an  excellent  golf  course, 
besides  the  ruins  of  an  old  castle,  both  of  which 
practically  every  town  in  Scotland  of  any  age 
must  have  to  maintain  its  standing  and  dignity. 

We  had  from  Dunbar  our  first  view  of  the 

177 


otoring  ^tiroati 


great  Bass  Rock  which  rises  abruptly  out  of  the 
sea  about  a  mile  off  shore  near  North  Berwick, 
and  also  of  the  "Law,"  which  is  the  name  given 
to  a  high  and  symmetrical  mountain  back  of  the 
town.  Seeing  these  two  familiar  landmarks 
brought  back  a  flood  of  pleasant  memories  of 
the  fortnight  which  we  had  spent  so  delightfully 
at  North  Berwick  two  years  previously,  and 
made  us  eager  to  push  on.  If  we  had  not  known 
the  charms  of  North  Berwick  we  could  have 
remained  very  contentedly  at  Dunbar.  But  we 
knew  North  Berwick  to  be  one  of  the  most 
charming  seashore  places  in  Scotland,  and  its 
hotel,  the  Marine,  to  be  an  ideal  home.  So, 
early  in  the  afternoon,  we  swung  around  on  the 
shore  road,  passed  Tantallon  Castle,  a  grim  old 
ruin  standing  out  boldly  on  the  cliffs  above  the 
sea,  and  soon  were  welcomed  at  the  Marine 
Hotel  by  our  friends  who  had  been  our  hosts 
on  our  previous  visit. 

We  had  covered  the  distance  of  four  hundred 
miles  from  London  over  the  Great  North  Road 
in  three  days.  This  had  enabled  us  to  make  the 
trip  leisurely  and  to  enjoy  not  only  the  charming 
scenery  through  which  we  were  continually 
passing,  but  to  stop  in  any  little  town  which 
met  our  fancy  and  visit  the  places  of  interest. 

178 


Crosfsiing  tte  Portier  Hint 


The  run  is  usually  made  by  motorists  in  two 
days,  but  any  one  who  makes  it  in  this  short 
time  loses  much  of  the  charm  of  the  trip.  The 
Marine  Hotel  is  a  great  rendezvous  of  golfers 
from  over  all  the  world  who  come  to  North  Ber- 
wick to  play  on  its  links  which,  counted  among 
the  finest  in  the  world,  are  among  the  oldest  in 
Scotland.  Golf  is  so  much  of  a  feature  here  that 
the  old  town  reservoir,  now  abandoned,  has  been 
filled  and  leveled  oft'  and  turned  into  a  perfectly 
kept  grass  putting  green. 

The  Golf  Clubhouse  and  links  are  built  on  the 
commons  between  the  town  and  the  sea.  The 
links  are  free  and  from  morning  until  night  there 
is  a  steady  stream  of  players  leaving  the  first  tee. 
In  summer  time  the  twilight  is  so  long  that 
golf  is  played  there,  as  in  all  other  places  in 
Scotland,  up  to  half -past  nine  and  sometimes 
a  quarter  to  ten  o'clock. 

North  Berwick  is  one  of  the  places  which  one 
may  visit  and  revisit  and  never  tire  of.  Ameri- 
cans have  dubbed  it  "The  Newport  of  Scotland." 
It  is  only  nineteen  miles  from  Edinburgh  and 
many  of  the  richest  families  have  erected  beau- 
tiful homes  there.  It  might  well  be  taken  for 
the  original  of  "Spotless  Town,"  because  its 
streets  and  dooryards  are  kept  so  scrupulously 

179 


otoring  ^broab 


clean.  Its  extensive  lawns  and  flower  gardens  are 
a  delight  to  the  eye.  The  profuse  cultivation  of 
flowers  everywhere  was,  in  fact,  one  of  the  most 
frequently  commented  features  of  our  entire 
trip.  In  rural  England  and  Scotland  particularly 
we  were  seldom  out  of  sight  of  them,  and  it 
mattered  not  whether  it  was  the  estate  of  wealth 
or  the  thatched-roof  home  of  poverty  tHere  was 
certain  to  be  a  profusion  of  bright-hued  flowers 
and  attractively  arranged  shrubbery. 

We  spent  several  days  at  North  Berwick, 
dividing  our  time  between  golf  and  side  trips  to 
interesting  points.  One  of  the  features  of  great- 
est interest  near  North  Berwick  is  Bass  Rock, 
already  referred  to.  It  is  reached  by  a  steam 
ferry  of  such  diminutive  size  that  only  those  who 
have  no  fear  of  seasickness  dare  make  the  trip, 
which  is  generally  a  rough  one.  This  enormous 
rock  which  rises  abruptly  from  the  sea  to  a 
height  of  350  feet,  is  the  haunt  of  myriads  of 
solan  geese  and  sea  birds.  These  are  so  numer- 
ous that  their  white  plumage  gives  the  entire 
south  side  of  the  rock,  from  a  distance,  the  ap- 
pearance of  having  been  whitewashed.  Those 
who  visit  the  rock,  if  they  are  adepts  at  moun- 
tain scaling,  may  climb  in  among  the  birds,  who 
pay  little  attention  to  human  visitors. 

ISO 


The    English    riittle.    like    the    American,    show 
an  utter  indifference  tn  tfie  rules  nf  the  rotiiL 


Crosiging  tfje  Jiorber  Hint 


The  run  from  North  Berwick  into  Edinburgh 
is  uninteresting,  especially  the  latter  portion  as 
we  approached  the  suburbs,  through  Mussel- 
burgh and  Portobella.  As  we  had  previously 
visited  Edinburgh  with  its  Holyrood  castle  and 
many  other  places  of  historic  interest,  we  did 
not  remain  there  all  night,  but  only  long  enough 
to  dine  at  the  Caledonian  Hotel  and  permit  the 
ladies  of  the  party  to  visit  some  of  the  shops  on 
Princes  Street,  often  referred  to  as  the  hand- 
somest street  in  the  world. 


181 


chapter  Sixteen 
of  ^cotlanli 


The  glorious  lyietcs  as  we  went  over  the  heather- 
covered  moors  and  through  the  Highlands  of 
Scotland  will  always  be  remembered. 


chapter  Sixteen 

Cfje  3^wn  ^crogg  tl)e  iWoorg  of  ^cotlanb 

AS  we  were  bound  for  the  north  of  Scotland, 
/-%  and  no  vehicles  can  go  over  the  great 
bridge  across  the  Firth  of  Forth,  we  took 
the  ferry  from  Granton,  almost  within  the  city 
limits  of  Edinburgh,  across  the  Firth  to  Burntis- 
land, a  distance  of  five  miles.  We  had  consider- 
able fun  over  the  pronunciation  of  this  name,  for 
we  pronounced  it  as  it  is  spelled,  Burntis-land. 
No 'one  understood  what  we  meant  until  we  dis- 
covered that  the  natives  pronounced  it  as  two 
words — Burnt  island.  We  had  no  difficulty  in 
running  our  motor  on  the  ferryboat  at  Granton 
and  the  charge  for  taking  it  across  was  insignif- 
icant, as  it  went  as  cargo  along  with  cows  and 
horses  and  vehicles  of  various  sorts. 

On  a  pleasant  day  this  ferry  trip  gives  one  a 
fine  view  of  the  great  Firth  of  Forth  bridge,  the 
most  remarkable  and  stupendous  structure  of 
its  kind  in  the  world.  But  the  day  we  crossed 
there  was  a  Scotch  mist,  and  when  a  full-fledged 

185 


otorins  ^Ijroab 


Scotch  mist  settles  down  to  business  there  is  no 
use  in  talking  about  views;  so  we  saw  nothing 
whatever  of  the  bridge,  much  to  our  regret.  Our 
friend,  Mr.  Edward  Murray,  whom  we  had  met 
at  North  Berwick,  and  who  added  much  to  the 
pleasure  of  our  short  stay  there  and  at  Edin- 
burgh, accompanied  us  across  the  ferry  and 
started  us  on  the  right  road  to  Perth. 

There  is  little  of  interest  along  the  way  be- 
tween Burntisland  (Burnt  island,  please,  not 
Burntis-land)  and  Perth.  The  "Scotch  mist" 
was  coming  down  in  torrents  and  about  the  only 
incident  of  the  trip  was  our  picking  up,  about 
fourteen  miles  from  Perth,  a  water-soaked  and 
almost  water-logged  man  w^alking  toward  the 
city  through  the  drenching  rain.  He  could  not 
possibly  have  been  wetter  than  he  was  and  a 
more  forlorn  object  we  had  seldom  seen.  We 
stopped  and  asked  him  if  he  was  going  far  and 
as  he  said  he  was  going  to  Perth,  w^e  told  him 
we  could  give  him  a  ride  if  he  would  sit  on  the 
floor  of  the  car  between  the  dash  and  the  front 
seat  with  his  feet  on  the  running  board.  We 
found  him  a  well-educated,  intelligent  man  who 
had  just  come  out  of  a  hospital,  and,  penniless 
and  without  having  had  anything  to  eat  that 
day,  was  trudging  it  to  Perth  to  see  if  he  could 

ISO 


^i}t  illoors!  of  ^cotlanb 


get  work  at  his  trade,  which  was  that  of  a 
journeyman  tailor.  Fortunately  we  had  a  good 
lunch  with  us  which  he  accepted  with  many 
thanks  and  hastily  devoured.  We  also  provided 
him  with  means  to  get  a  good  night's  lodging 
and  take  care  of  himself  a  few  days  until  he  could 
get  work. 

We  left  Perth  the  morning  after  our  arrival 
and  almost  immediately  turned  into  the  high- 
lands of  the  mountain  section  of  Scotland.  From 
here  to  Inverness  the  entire  trip  is  one  of  the 
rarest  beauty.  The  scenery  is  w  ild  and  attractive 
every  mile  of  the  way,  and  we  began  to  realize 
the  oft-told  beauties  of  the  Scottish  moors.  The 
road,  which  was  excellent,  was  of  the  roller- 
coaster  style,  but  the  grades  were  severe  in  many 
places.  We  were  taking  the  only  route  that  a 
motor  can  follow  in  going  to  Inverness  from 
Perth  without  making  the  wide  detour  around 
by  Aberdeen,  and  this  is  by  way  of  the  Pass  of 
Killiecrankie.  The  motor  road  follows  the  line 
of  the  railroad  for  the  entire  distance  and  the  two 
are  within  sight  of  each  most  of  the  way.  At  the 
time  we  made  the  trip  both  the  purple  and  the 
white  heather  were  in  full  bloom  and  we  had 
stretched  out  before  us  on  either  side  a  color 
scheme  of  Nature  which  could  be  likened  best 

187 


otoring  ^tiroab 


to  a  great  Persian  carpet,  vivid  in  coloring  and 
majestic  in  proportions.  There  is  practically  no 
timber  but  there  are  solid  banks  of  rhododen- 
drons on  the  banks  of  the  streams.  The  hills 
and  mountains  would  be  bare  and  forlorn  except 
for  these  and  the  heather.  The  exquisite  little 
"Bluebells  of  Scotland"  peeped  up  everywhere 
through  the  heather  as  the  brilliant  red  poppies 
did  in  the  waving  grainfields  of  France.  Every 
little  while  we  passed  shooting-lodges,  and  we 
saw  several  parties  beating  the  moors  for  pheas- 
ants with  their  dogs  and  drivers,  as  the  season 
had  opened  just  prior  to  our  visit.  Some  of  the 
hunting  lodges  were  magnificent  affairs,  and  they 
were  generally  erected  on  a  hillside  overlooking 
the  beautiful  valley  which  we  were  following.  I 
was  told  that  the  prices  charged  for  the  leases 
of  these  shooting  preserves  had  reached  absurd 
and  fabulous  figures  on  account  of  the  demand 
for  them  by  millionaire  Americans.  The  Pass  of 
Killiecrankie  through  which  we  passed  is  where 
the  Duke,  whom  John  Drew  made  famous  in 
America  through  one  of  his  plays,  is  supposed 
to  have  lived.  It  is  a  gem  of  nature,  resembling 
some  of  the  well-known  notches  in  the  White 
Mountains. 

At  noon  we  reached  Pitlochry,  a  favorite  sum- 

188 


Wbt  illloor£{  of  ^cotlanb 


mer  resort  where  there  are  a  large  number  of 
sanitariums,  and  stopped  at  Fisher's  Hotel  for 
luncheon.  We  had  intended  to  spend  the  after- 
noon there  visiting  the  near-by  places  of  interest, 
but  it  was  raining  so  hard  that  we  concluded 
there  was  little  to  do  in  the  way  of  sightseeing 
with  comfort,  and  that  we  might  as  well  push 
on  to  Inverness. 

We  met  at  Pitlochry  Major  Walter  Fry,  a 
retired  English  army  officer  who  was  spending 
the  summer  there  in  photographing,  between 
spells  of  Scotch  mist,  the  beautiful  scenery  in 
the  neighborhood  and  in  fishing  in  the  near-by 
salmon  streams.  He  gave  me  many  valuable 
suggestions  as  to  what  to  see  farther  north  in 
Scotland  and  since  our  return  has  sent  me 
several  photographs  of  this  region,  a  few  of 
which  are  reproduced  in  this  volume. 

We  stopped  an  hour  at  Pullar's  Hotel,  Kin- 
gussie, about  thirty  miles  north  of  Pitlochry, 
for  tea,  and  then  pushed  on  forty-six  miles 
further  to  Inverness,  arriving  at  the  Alexandra 
Hotel,  to  which  we  had  telegraphed  ahead  for 
rooms,  just  about  dark. 

The  run  from  Perth,  a  distance  of  one  hun- 
dred and  eighteen  miles,  which  we  made  easily 
in  one  day,  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful   motor 

189 


otorins  ^broab 


trips  that  any  one  can  imagine.  There  are  few 
towns,  but  the  scenery  is  wild  and  unique.  In 
all  Europe  or  America  there  is  no  trip  just  like 
it,  and  Avhen  one  has  been  over  it  it  is  easy  to 
understand  the  fascination  always  attached  to 
the  moors  of  Scotland.  August  is,  however,  a 
bad  time  to  make  the  trip  because  of  the 
frequent  rains.  The  knowing  ones  told  us 
that  June  and  July  were  always  better  for 
motoring,  and  after  the  experience  we  had  on 
this  trip  we  should,  if  we  make  the  trip  again, 
tour  Great  Britain  in  July  and  France  in  August. 


190 


Chapter  ^cbentecn 
!3long  ti)t  Caledonian  Canal 


■0>,s 


^^^ 


■^-;^..* 


In  going  toward  Edinburgh,  ive  passed  many 
rows  of  typical  Scotch  cottages,  but  outside  the 
cities  there  was  little  sign  uf  abject  poverty. 


chapter  ^ebenteen 
^long  ti)e  Caletionmn  Canal  en  route  to  (0ban 

INVERNESS,  often  referred  to  as  the  "Capi- 
tal of  the  Highlands,"  is  the  great  center  of 
all  tourist  travel  in  the  north  of  Scotland. 
It  is  pleasantly  situated  at  a  point  where  the 
Ness  River  enters  the  Beauly  Firth.  This  river, 
which  has  a  tremendous  tidal  current,  flows 
directly  through  the  town  and  is  almost  at  the 
front  door  of  the  Alexandra  Hotel,  where  we  were 
pleasantly  housed  during  our  stay.  We  were 
told  that  within  a  few  miles  of  the  town  the 
salmon  fishing  in  the  river  was  excellent.  Speak- 
ing of  salmon  suggests  at  least  one  item  which  we 
had  on  every  bill  of  fare  in  Scotland  and  which 
was  a  feature  of  every  table  d'hote.  Salmon, 
especially  when  it  is  fresh,  is  a  delicious  fish, 
but  salmon  even  under  the  best  of  conditions 
and  served  in  a  variety  of  ways  becomes  unin- 
viting as  a  steady  diet  about  the  end  of  the 
third  week. 

Of   course    Inverness,    like    all   other   Scotch 

193 


otoring  ^broab 


towns,  has  its  castle  with  a  history  running  back 
for  centuries.  AVe  found  the  shops,  however, 
rather  more  interesting.  They  were  particularly 
well-stocked  with  the  goods  characteristic  of 
Scotland,  including  Scotch  tartans  of  every  clan 
and  quantities  of  jewelry  and  knickknacks  in 
which  the  cairngorm,  a  yellowish  stone  found 
in  many  parts  of  Scotland,  played  a  prominent 
part.  There  must  be  an  immense  amount  of 
money  left  in  Inverness  and  the  other  Scotch 
towns,  by  tourists  through  the  purchase  of  these 
novelties,  which  are  made  up  into  most  inviting 
and  unique  shapes  and  forms,  from  hat  and 
scarf  pins  and  shoe  buckles  to  diadems  and 
sabre  handles. 

We  remained  two  days  at  the  Alexandra  Hotel 
and  on  one  of  these  days  made  the  run  to  Nairn, 
about  twenty  miles  from  Inverness  along  the 
north  coast.  This  town  is  one  of  the  cleanest 
and  neatest  in  Scotland,  and  reminds  the  visitor 
of  North  Berwick.  It  is  built  directly  on  an 
elevation  upon  the  seashore  and  is  a  popular 
resort  for  the  summer  season.  Its  beautiful  golf 
course,  laid  out  along  the  grass-covered  sand 
dunes  of  the  coast,  brings  many  people  there  for 
the  summer.  The  links  are  among  the  best  and 
most  interesting  in  Scotland  and  so  popular  is 

194 


^long  tfje  Calcbonian  Canal 


the  course  that  there  are  two  chibhouses,  one 
for  the  exclusive  use  of  ladies  and  the  other  for 
gentlemen. 

There  is  little  about  Inverness  that  would 
commend  it  for  a  sojourn  of  any  length.  One 
of  the  things  that  we  remember  in  connection 
with  it  is  the  great  number  of  drunken  men  we 
saw  on  the  streets,  but  then  this  is  unfortun- 
ately true  about  every  large  town  in  Scotland, 
where  intemperance  seems  to  be  a  curse  in  the 
lower  walks  of  life.  We  found  the  Alexandra 
Hotel,  however,  a  most  agreeable  place  and  it  is 
recommended  as  being  the  best  in  Inverness. 

The  magnificent  home  of  Mr.  Andrew  Car- 
negie, Skibo  Castle,  is  but  a  few  hours'  run 
by  motor  north  of  Inverness  in  the  very  heart 
of  the  most  rugged  section  of  the  Scottish  high- 
lands. During  the  summer  season,  while  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Carnegie  are  there,  there  are  usually 
twenty  to  thirty  guests.  We  chanced  to  meet  at 
Inverness  a  gentleman  who  had  been  a  guest  for 
a  week  and  he  gave  us  a  most  interesting  account 
of  the  daily  life  at  Skibo. 

At  exactly  7:45  each  morning  a  lusty  bag- 
piper marches  around  the  castle  and  plays  inspir- 
ing Scotch  melodies  under  all  the  windows. 
This  is  continued  for  half  an  hour,  the  piper 

195 


otoring  ^broab 


being  very  punctilious  in  starting  exactly  on  the 
moment. 

Before  breakfast  the  men  adjourn  to  the  huge 
swimming  tank  which  is  erected  near  the  castle. 
It  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long  by  fifty  feet 
wide  and  from  three  to  eight  feet  deep  and  is 
covered  w^th  a  roof  which,  in  pleasant  weather, 
folds  down  on  either  side  by  simply  pressing  a 
button,  making  it  an  open-air  bath.  The  salt 
water  with  which  it  is  filled  is  pumped  from  the 
near-by  sea. 

From  8:15  until  8:45  the  great  pipe  organ  in 
the  castle,  presided  over  by  a  cultured  musician, 
peals  forth  a  selection  of  splendid  old  hymns, 
always  including  "Eine  Feste  Burg,"  a  favorite 
of  Mr.  Carnegie.  Shortly  after  this,  breakfast  is 
had  in  the  large  breakfast  room.  But  no  servants 
are  present.  Each  guest  helps  himself  or  herself 
from  the  sideboard  as  is  the  custom  everywhere 
in  England  and  Scotland,  and  takes  a  seat  at  the 
table  next  to  whoever  was  last  seated. 

The  morning  hours  are  passed  in  the  various 
pleasures  of  the  region;  tramping,  shooting  in 
season,  golf  on  the  private  links  of  the  castle, 
and  riding  and  driving.  Luncheon  is  always  an 
informal  affair,  but  dinner  in  the  evening  at  eight 
o'clock  is  the  social  function  of  the  day.     The 

196 


^lons  tije  Calebonian  Canal 


piper  who  played  around  the  castle  walls  in  the 
morning  comes  into  the  reception  room  and 
precedes  all  the  guests,  marching  aroimd  the 
great  dining-room  twice  and  then  passing  out  of 
the  same  door  by  which  he  entered.  The  guests 
follow  and  take  unassigned  seats,  although  the 
host  and  hostess  generally  suggest  to  certain 
guests  that  they  will  find  such  or  such  a  person 
an  agreeable  dinner  companion. 

On  Sunday  no  sports  are  ever  indulged  in, 
and  every  one  at  the  castle  is  expected  to  attend 
service  at  the  kirk,  five  miles  away.  In  the 
afternoon  the  guests  all  join  in  a  walk  with  Mr. 
Carnegie  over  the  estate,  visiting  all  the  stables, 
barns,  sheepfolds,  chicken  houses  and  other  in- 
teresting points.  When  he  starts  out  for  this 
walk,  Mr.  Carnegie  fills  his  pockets  with  old- 
fashioned  peppermints  and  the  little  children  of 
the  place,  in  whom  he  takes  the  greatest  interest 
and  most  of  whom  he  knows  by  name,  gather 
about  him  and  help  themselves  to  the  pepper- 
mints in  his  pockets  just  as  squirrels  might. 

On  Sunday  evening  every  one  on  the  estate, 
old  and  young,  from  the  owner  to  the  humblest 
sheep-herder,  gathers  in  the  great  hall  of  the 
castle  and  with  the  fine  organ  as  an  accom- 
paniment joins  in  singing  the  favorite  hymns  of 

197 


jWotoring  ^broab 


the  host  and  hostess.  Mr.  Carnegie  is  known 
personally  to  almost  every  resident  in  that 
part  of  Scotland,  and  is  beloved  by  all  with 
whom  he  comes  in  contact. 

Before  we  reached  Inverness  we  had  decided 
that  we  would  go  down  the  west  coast  of  Scot- 
land instead  of  retracing  our  route  over  the 
moors.  The  former  route  would  take  us  along 
the  course  of  the  famous  Caledonian  Canal 
which,  formed  by  locks  connecting  a  number  of 
long,  narrow  lakes,  cuts  Scotland  in  two,  making 
the  northern  portion  an  island.  We  found  no 
difficulty  in  getting  information  regarding  the 
route  as  far  as  Fort  William.  Every  one  told 
us  that  for  that  distance  it  was  a  level  road,  fol- 
lowing the  course  of  the  Canal,  and  exceedingly 
picturesque.  We  could  get,  however,  no  in- 
formation as  to  what  sort  of  road  we  should  find 
from  Fort  William  to  Oban.  Even  the  accom- 
modating proprietor  of  the  Alexandra  Hotel  at 
Inverness  could  give  us  no  definite  information, 
nor  could  we  find  at  any  garage  in  Inverness 
any  one  who  could  outline  our  route.  It  seemed 
from  all  we  heard  that  there  were  several  fiords, 
or  lochs  (lakes)  running  from  the  sea  far  up 
between  the  mountains  which  were  difficult 
to  cross  because  of  lack  of  ferry  facilities,  and 

198 


^long  tfjc  Calebonian  Canal 


that  the  trip  around  them  was  circuitous,  long, 
and  with  many  steep  grades  and  poor  roads. 

We  conchided,  however,  to  go  ahead,  beUeving 
that  if  we  could  not  get  through  from  Fort 
William  to  Oban  we  could  retrace  our  way  to 
Inverness  and  that  the  trip  dow^n  the  shores  of 
the  Caledonian  Canal  and  back  would,  in  itself, 
be  an  enjoyable  one. 

We  started  from  Inverness  on  a  bright  sunny 
morning,  one  of  the  few  days  in  our  entire 
sojourn  in  Scotland  when  it  did  not  rain  or 
*'mist."  We  never  knew^  how  much  sunshine 
added  to  a  day  until  we  took  this  trip  in  Scot- 
land, for  we  had  experienced  almost  continually 
from  the  time  we  entered  Scotland  the  "Scotch 
mist,"  some  of  it  so  thick  you  could  lean  against  it. 
In  other  instances  it  was  a  polite  and  romantic 
name  for  a  good,  old-fashioned  rain.  We  had 
become  convinced  that  there  was  some  truth  in 
the  cynic's  remark  that  all  children  in  the  north 
of  Scotland  w^ere  born  web-footed  and  with  a 
mackintosh  on.  The  expression,  "What  a 
beautiful  country  this  would  be  if  the  sun 
w^ould  only  shine,"  became  so  threadbare  from 
over-use  that  we  agreed  by  common  consent 
to  give  it  a  rest.  And,  yet,  with  all  the  rain  we 
look  back  on  this  part  of  our  trip  with  keenest 

199 


otorins  ^broab 


pleasure.  Like  the  natives  we  simply  agreed  to 
let  it  rain  if  it  wanted  to,  and  went  about  our 
business  and  our  sight-seeing  as  if  each  day  was 
the  fairest  we  had  ever  seen.  But  what  a  beau- 
tiful country  it  would  be  if  the  sun  would  only 
shine ! 

Several  friends,  young  ladies,  who  were  "ac- 
companying us  by  train"  left  Inverness  two  hours 
ahead  of  us  on  one  of  the  steamers  which  makes 
the  trip  daily  to  Oban  through  the  Canal.  We 
were  on  the  lookout  for  the  steamer  and  in  a 
short  time  we  caught  our  first  glimpse  of  it  push- 
ing its  watery  way  down  through  a  magnificent 
mountain  gorge,  leaving  a  long  trail  of  smoke 
as  a  telltale  of  its  passage. 

In  the  course  of  a  half-hour  we  had  come 
abreast  of  it  and  noticed  that  it  had  changed  its 
course  to  come  across  the  loch,  which  at  this 
point  was  about  a  mile  wide,  and  was  heading 
for  a  landing  which  we  saw  ahead  of  us.  The 
steamer  and  our  car  reached  there  at  the  same 
time  and  we  ran  our  motor  down  onto  the  quay 
to  chat  with  our  friends,  a  trick  which  seemed  to 
greatly  interest  the  other  passengers  on  the  boat, 
who  were  largely  Scotch  and  English. 

Within  a  mile  from  the  landing,  the  road  we 
were    following    became    so    tortuous    and    the 

200 


The  groups  of  Highland  cattle  which  tre  jre- 
quentlij  saw  on  the  hillsides  gare  a  touch  of 
life  to  the  rugged  country. 


^lons  tije  Caletionian  Canal 


mountains  so  numerous  that  we  lost  track  of  the 
steamer  and  we  did  not  see  our  friends  again 
until  the  next  morning  at  Oban.  This  trip  along 
the  Caledonian  Canal  gave  us  an  unending  suc- 
cession of  exquisite  views  of  mountain,  moor  and 
lake.  The  scenery  was  rugged  and  picturesque 
by  turns  with  here  and  there  a  quaint  little 
hamlet  generally  at  the  canal  locks,  through 
which  sailboats  of  unique  form  were  continuously 
passing. 

On  reaching  Fort  William  we  decided  that  we 
would  stop  for  luncheon  at  the  Alexandra  Hotel, 
as  it  was  on  the  main  street,  and  not  undertake 
to  reach  the  Station  Hotel  some  distance  above 
the  town  on  the  hillside.  We  made  a  mistake, 
however,  in  not  going  to  the  hotel  managed  by 
the  railway  company.  In  almost  every  town  in 
Scotland  these  are  far  superior  to  others  and 
should  be  patronized  in  preference.  The  Alex- 
andra Hotel  at  Fort  William  will  go  down  in 
memory  as  one  of  the  horrors  of  our  Scottish 
tour. 

Before  luncheon  I  went  out  to  interview 
various  people  in  the  town  to  see  what  the 
chances  were  of  our  getting  through  to  Oban. 
I  found  the  most  dense  ignorance  on  this  sub- 
ject.    A  man  who  kept  ii  bicycle  shop  could  tell 

201 


[otorins  ^broab 


me  nothing  except  that  he  believed  two  or  three 
motors  had  succeeded  in  getting  through.  The 
hotel  proprietor's  mind  was  a  blank  on  this 
subject.  In  desperation  I  went  to  the  office 
of  the  steamboat  company.  There  the  agent, 
who  was  exceedingly  courteous,  assured  me  that 
there  was  little  chance  of  our  being  able  to  get 
through  in  our  car  and  advised  putting  it  on 
his  boat  and  sending  it  to  Oban  in  this  way. 
Since  we  were  not  on  a  boating  but  on  a  motor 
car  trip,  I  decided  to  adhere  to  our  original 
determination  to  go  through  by  motor  car  if  it 
were  in  any  way  possible. 

Finally,  at  the  post  office,  I  found  an  official 
who  told  me  that  he  thought  we  could  get  through ; 
that  the  roads  were  fine  but  that  there  were  two 
great  obstacles:  one  Loch  Leven,  a  fiord  at 
Ballachulish  and  the  other  the  Loch  Etive,  a 
fiord  at  Benderloch.  He  said  he  understood 
that  a  new  ferry  had  just  been  built  at  Balla- 
chulish to  take  motor  cars  across,  but  that  there 
was  no  ferry  at  Benderloch  and  we  should  have 
to  telegraph  to  the  station  master  of  the  Cale- 
donian Railway  at  Oban  and  have  him  send  a 
flat  car  to  Benderloch  to  take  us  and  the  motor 
across  the  railroad  bridge. 

That  the  reader  may  vmderstand   this  west 

202 


0lons  tfic  Calcboman  Canal 


coast  of  Scotland  and  its  difficulties  for  motoring, 
as  well  as  its  magnificent  beauties,  it  may  be  well 
to  say  that  a  wilder  country  within  the  civilized 
portion  of  the  globe  does  not  exist.  The  ranges 
of  the  highest  mountains  in  Scotland  are  all  on 
its  west  coast.  Ben  Nevis,  covered  with  snow 
even  in  August  when  we  saw  it,  and  a  dozen 
other  great  mountains,  all  frown  down  upon  the 
ocean  that  beats  against  what  is  literally  a 
rock-bound  coast.  This  is  broken  by  many 
arms  of  the  sea  which,  like  the  fiords  of  Norway, 
run  far  into  the  interior. 

The  country  is  sparsely  settled  and  one  view- 
ing it  may  easily  see  that  the  ruggedness  of  the 
Scotch  race  is  native.  But  the  views  of  moun- 
tain and  sea,  which  are  majestic  beyond  de- 
scription, more  than  compensate  for  the  trip. 
The  road  for  miles  follows  the  contour  of  the 
shore-line  high  up  along  the  brow  of  the  cliffs 
overlooking  the  sea,  and  winding  in  and  out 
close  to  the  edge  of  the  gorges,  where  in  many 
instances  the  sea  hurls  itself  in  between  the 
narrow  chasms  of  rocks  with  a  booming  like 
distant  cannonading. 

After  my  talk  with  the  postmaster  at  Fort 
William  I  decided  to  telegraph  to  Oban,  and 
as  the  telegraph  office  and  post  office  are  one  in 


203 


jHotoring  ^broab 


Scotland,  both  being  managed  by  the  Govern- 
ment, the  dispatch  was  quickly  sent  and  I  had 
the  reply  by  the  time  we  had  finished  luncheon. 
It  read: 

"Flat  car  for  motor  will  wait  you  Benderloch  station.  Cost 
7-6. — Stationmastek." 

The  promptness  and  business  character  of 
this  dispatch  determined  us  on  following  our 
original  plan,  and  our  car  was  soon  humming  a 
merry  tune  along  the  beautiful  mountain  road 
toward  Ballachulish.  We  left  Fort  William 
about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  and  it  was  at 
least  four  when  we  reached  Ballachulish  and 
pulled  up  at  the  comfortable  Scotch-like  stone 
inn  on  the  side  of  the  fiord,  or  Loch  Leven,  to 
give  it  its  proper  geographical  name. 

I  hunted  up  the  proprietor  immediately  and 
asked  him  where  the  ferry  was  as  we  had  dis- 
covered no  place  where  a  boat  of  this  nature 
could  land.  In  his  broad  Scotch  he  replied: 
"She's  a  bit  awa'  man,  lying  o'er  yon,"  and 
pointed  to  the  distant  side  of  the  fiord,  which  was 
perhaps  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide  and  sharply 
driven  in  between  the  mountains.  All  that  any 
of  us  could  discover  "a  bit  awa'  o'er  yon"  was 
what  looked  to  be  a  small  rowboat.     But  the 

204 


It  was  a  job  requiring  the  fireattst  cdrc  to  bal- 
ance our  heavy  car  on  this  "ferryboat"  and 
take  it  safely  across  the  fiord. 


^long  tJ)c  Caledonian  Canal 


innkeeper  assured  us  that  it  was  a  real  ferry  and 
large  enough  to  take  our  car  across. 

We  had  decided  misgivings  regarding  this  but 
told  him  to  get  the  boat  over  and  we  would  see 
whether  we  wished  to  risk  putting  the  motor 
upon  it.  In  a  few  minutes  two  lusty  Scots  were 
rowing  a  yawl  across  the  fiord,  out  of  which  the 
tide  was  running  at  a  speed  of  certainly  fifteen 
miles  an  hour. 

In  the  course  of  half  an  hour  they  had  towed 
the  ferryboat  across  and  had  moored  it  at  the 
end  of  a  steep,  stone-paved  declivity  running 
into  the  sea.  And  then  a  jabber  began,  all  in 
Gaelic,  not  one  word  of  which  could  be  under- 
stood or  even  guessed  at  by  any  of  our  party. 
At  the  end  of  five  minutes  of  spirited  conversa- 
tion the  Scotch  innkeeper,  who  was  also  lessee 
of  the  ferry,  explained  to  me  that  we  should 
have  to  wait  about  an  hour  and  a  half  until 
the  tide  had  lowered  sufficiently  to  bring  the 
gunwale  of  the  boat  level  with  the  end  of  the 
lowest  part  of  the  sloping  stone  landing.  He 
felt  sure  then  that  they  could  put  some  planks 
across  the  sides  of  the  boat  and  some  other 
planks  from  these  to  the  landing  and  run  the 
motor  on  to  the  ferryboat.  As  the  craft  was 
just  nine  feet  across  in  its  widest  part  and  the 

205 


ittotoring  ^broatr 


wheel  base  of  our  car  was  eight  feet  eight  inches, 
it  was  going  to  be  necessary  to  do  some  careful 
balancing  even  if  we  got  the  motor  on  safely. 
All  this  looked  easier  than  getting  our  car 
down  the  slippery,  stone-paved  slope,  which  an 
hour  ago  had  been  covered  by  the  eighteen-foot 
tide,  and  at  this  time  was  covered  with  slimy 
seaweeds.  It  took  no  great  imagination  to  pic- 
ture a  3,000  pound  automobile  with  wheels 
locked,  tobogganing  down  that  slimy  slope  and 
landing  with  a  running  jump  far  out  in  the  deep, 
dark  waters  of  the  fiord.  The  ferry  master 
answered  our  suggestions  as  to  this  possibility  by 
calling  attention  to  large  iron  rings  which  were 
set  in  the  stonework  about  every  ten  feet  down 
the  slope,  assuring  us  that  he  had  strong  ropes 
which  he  would  fasten  to  the  rear  axle  of  the  car 
and  run  through  these  rings  and  in  this  way  hold 
the  car  in  check. 


206 


Cfjaptcr  Cigfjtecn 

Cniring  tftc  ^cottisfj  tE^our  anb 
€m&arfeins  for  Srelanb 


We  had  to  put  our  motor  on  the  flat  car  so  as 
to  be  ready  when  the  train  came  to  take  us  to 
Oban.  {This  photograph  was  taken  at  8.45 
p.m.) 


chapter  Cigfjteen 

(Enbing  tJje  t^our  in  ^cotlanb  anb  Cmbarfeing 
for  Srelanb 

THE  hour  and  a  half  we  had  to  wait  for  the 
tide,  which,  according  to  the  old  adage, 
"waits  for  no  man,"  we  spent  it  in  won- 
dering how  it  would  feel  in  making  the  rest  of 
the  trip  by  rail  after  our  car  had  sunk  out  of 
sight  by  the  capsizing  of  the  little  boat  to  which 
we  were  to  intrust  it. 

All  things  have  an  end,  however,  and  so  did 
our  wait,  which  seemed  interminable  at  that 
time,  but  we  were  soon  actively  engaged  in  the 
preparations  for  embarking  our  car.  George, 
who  was  acting  as  chauffeur,  without  the  slightest 
sign  of  timidity,  climbed  into  his  seat,  ropes  at- 
tached to  the  rear  axle  were  slackened  and 
the  descent  was  begun,  inch  by  inch,  with  the 
care  and  precaution  that  characterizes  every- 
thing   that    the    Scotch    do.      The    car   finally 

209 


iHotoring  ^broab 


reached  the  boat;  then  gradually  more  rope  was 
given  it  until  it  was  evenly  balanced.  The 
wheels  were  lashed  together  and  roped  securely 
to  the  boat,  blocks  were  put  in  front  of  and  back 
of  each  wheel  and  finally  the  ferryman  announced 
himself  ready  to  start,  urging  us  at  the  same  time 
to  step  in  and  go  across  with  the  motor. 

There  was  a  universal  exclamation,  "Not  for 
me!"  If  that  boat  was  going  to  do  anything  in 
the  balancing  line,  and  the  car  was  going  to 
break  away  and  change  the  center  of  gravity  so 
that  the  boat  would  capsize,  all  of  us,  except 
George,  preferred  to  be  on  shore  to  watch  the 
proceeding  rather  than  be  parties  to  it.  Just  as 
the  boat  was  pushing  off,  however,  some  bicy- 
clists came  down  the  sloping  quay  and  five  or 
six  of  them  climbed  in  and  paid  their  penny  each 
to  go  across  on  that  trip.  We  followed  in  an- 
other boat  manned  by  two  of  the  men  who  had 
assisted  in  embarking  our  motor.  The  trip 
across,  the  landing  on  the  other  side,  and  the 
climb  up  the  slippery,  sloping,  stone  quay  was 
made,  however,  after  a  good  deal  of  painstaking 
care  and  fear  on  my  part  that  something  would 
give  way  and  spoil,  at  the  last  moment,  the  suc- 
cess of  our  effort.  When  the  car  was  finally 
landed  on  solid  ground  we  climbed  in  and  after 

210 


Cmtjarfeing  for  Srelanb 


bidding  our  friends  of  the  ferry  adieu,  paying 
the  <£!  fee  and  distributing  Hberal  tips,  we  started 
for  Benderloch. 

It  is  doubtful  if  any  of  us  will  ever  forget  the 
magnificent  ride  in  the  long  twilight  of  that 
August  evening.  There  was  hardly  a  stretch  of 
one  hundred  yards  that  could,  by  any  trick  of 
imagination,  be  called  straight.  We  rushed 
through  labyrinths  of  forests  carpeted  with 
ferns;  we  followed  deep  foliage-embowered 
chasms,  up  one  side,  and  then,  after  a  sharp  turn, 
returned  on  parallel  lines  down  the  other.  We 
climbed  steep  grades  and  shot  down  toboggan 
slides,  catching  a  glimpse  here  of  the  sea  and 
there  of  the  mountains,  till  finally,  just  about 
dark,  we  reached  Benderloch. 

The  "town"  of  Benderloch  is  a  railroad  station 
and  one  forlorn  little  store.  It  looks  big  on  the 
map  and  it  had  been  so  much  talked  about  by 
us  that  we  had  mentally  pictured  it  as  quite  a 
metropolis.  On  a  siding  near  the  well-kept  sta- 
tion, in  the  windows  of  which  were  the  usual  box 
of  geraniums  and  bright  flowers,  we  saw  what 
was  evidently  the  flat  car  which  had  been  sent  to 
meet  us.  But  it  took  several  minutes  to  disclose 
any  sign  of  humanity.  Finally  the  Scotch  sta- 
tion-keeper answered  my  knocking   and   came 

2U 


iHotoring  ^broab 


from  his  apartment  in  the  second  floor  where  he 
lived  with  his  family. 

I  introduced  myself  and  showed  him  the  tele- 
gram which  I  had  received  from  the  station 
master  at  Oban. 

"O,  weel  man,"  he  said,  "that's  a'  richt,  but 
you  should  hae  been  here  in  time  for  the  train." 

"The  dispatch  doesn't  say  anything  about  a 
train,"  I  answered. 

"Weel,  I  tak'  it  he  thoct  you'd  kenned.  The 
train  has  been  gone  for  half  an  oor,  and  the 
flat  should  hae  been  ta'en  ower  by  the  train." 

"When  does  the  next  train  go.^" 

"There'll  be  na  mair,"  replied  he,  "  'till 
twenty  minutes  past  eleven  ^Monday  forenoon." 

x4nd  this  was  Saturday  night! 

Well,  we  were  literally  nonplussed  for  a  few 
minutes  but  soon  regained  our  wuts  sufRciently 
to  ask  if  there  was  any  place  where  we  could 
stay  all  night  as  it  was  getting  so  dark  we  did 
not  wish  to  go  much  further  in  the  motor  over 
unknown  roads,  and  we  had  passed  no  houses 
for  miles  back. 

"You  can  return  tae  Ballachulish,"  he  said, 
"which  is  aboot  thirty  miles,  and  that  is  the 
nearest  place." 

We  told  him  we  had  just  come  from  there  and 

212 


The  road  down  the  west  coast  of  Scotland 
hu!]s  the  sea  for  much  of  the  wai/,  sometimes  at 
its  lei'el  and  again  many  feet  above  it. 


Cmbarfeing  for  Srelanb 


would  not  think  of  going  over  that  mountain  road 
in  the  night. 

*'Is  there  no  place  in  the  station  where  we  can 
sleep?"  we  asked. 

"Na,"  he  replied,  "my  wife  and  I  and  our  six 
bairns  live  upstairs  and  we  hae  no  room." 

Here  was  a  dilemma.  We  had  had  nothing 
to  eat  since  noon  and  we  did  not  look  forward 
with  keen  anticipation  to  a  supper  and  break- 
fast of  Suchard  chocolate,  French  sausage  and 
"Perrier"  water,  a  supply  of  which  we  always 
carried  in  the  car  for  emergencies. 

As  a  last  resort  T  asked  if  he  could  call  up  the 
office  of  the  railroad  at  Oban  and  see  if  they 
would  send  a  special  engine  over  to  pull  the  flat 
car  with  the  motor  on  it  over  to  Oban,  a  distance 
of  only  nine  miles,  but  a  real  case  of  *'so  near 
and  yet  so  far." 

He  agreed  to  do  this  and  we  waited  patiently 
for  him  to  call  up  on  the  telephone — all  train 
dispatching  in  that  part  of  Scotland  is  done  by 
telephone.  After  what  seemed  to  be  an  inter- 
minable wait  he  opened  conversation  with  some 
one  at  the  other  end  of  the  line.  It  proved  to  be 
a  clerk  in  the  main  office  of  the  company  at 
Oban  who  said  that  the  station  master  and 
every  one  else  had  gone  home  and  he  alone  was 

213 


iHotoring  ^broab 


on  duty.  I  besought  the  agent  to  ask  him  to 
call  up  the  station  master  at  his  home  and  see 
if  he  could  not  get  action.  This  he  consented  to 
do  and  after  another  long  wait  the  station  master 
called  up  our  friend,  the  station  agent,  and  told 
him  he  would  be  very  glad  to  accommodate  us 
and  get  us  out  of  our  dilemma  provided  he  could 
find  an  engineer  Avho  would  be  willing  to  make 
the  trip,  and  who  would  go  down  to  the  round- 
house and  get  steam  up  in  one  of  the  engines, 
all  of  which  had  been  put  away  Saturday  night 
until  Monday  morning — for  Sunday  is  literally 
a  day  of  rest  in  all  parts  of  Scotland. 

Another  long  wait,  during  which  the  shadows 
had  darkened  into  night.  Then  the  telephone 
bell  rang,  a  glad  and  joyous  sound  which 
brought  us  into  the  office  of  the  station  agent. 

Yes,  the  official  in  Oban  had  found  an  en- 
gineer who  was  obliging  enough  to  make  the 
trip,  but  to  get  out  a  special  at  that  time  of  night 
and  to  come  over  for  us  would  be  very  expensive, 
and  the  station  agent  must  explain  fully  to  the 
Americans  the  great  cost  and  get  the  money 
before  anything  would  be  done  in  Oban. 

"Find  out  how  much  it  will  be,"  I  asked  with 
impatience. 

"It  will  cost,"  said   the   station   agent   after 

214 


Cmbarfeing  for  Sreland 


word  came  over  the  wire,  "three  pounds 
($15.00)." 

Reaching  down  into  my  pocket  I  produced  a 
five-pound  note  quicker  than  I  ever  did  before 
and  enjoined  him  to  tell  the  official  at  the  other 
end  that  he  had  the  money  in  hand  and  to  send 
the  engine. 

Then  came  another  wait,  and  at  last  the  glad 
sound!  Away  over  across  the  dark  stream  of 
the  fiord  and  echoing  up  against  the  mountain 
side,  we  heard  our  special  coming  and  finally 
the  great  headlight  loomed  up  through  the  dark- 
ness and  in  rolled  what  we  heard  referred  to  in 
Oban  afterward  as  *'Tlie  Millionaire  American''s 
Special."  It  was  one  of  the  handsomest  loco- 
motives I  have  ever  seen,  and  attached  to  it  was 
a  beautiful,  modern,  first-class  passenger  coach 
and  a  lugg-aofe  van.  Coming;  as  it  was  to  us  and 
for  us  in  our  dilemma  no  train  rich  in  the  trap- 
pings and  furnishings  of  royalty  could  have 
looked  as  beautiful. 

While  we  were  waiting  for  the  train  we  had 
run  our  "Loco"  up  the  slope  arranged  for  teams 
to  the  loading  platform  and  upon  the  side- 
tracked car.  Here  we  had  properly  secured  it 
with  ropes  so  there  was  no  delay  when  our 
special  arrived.     It  took  but  a  few  minutes  to 

215 


otoring  ^tiroab 


attach  the  car  to  the  train,  and  with  one  loud, 
triumphant  scream  of  the  whistle,  which  echoed 
and  re-echoed  through  the  mountain  fastnesses 
we  pulled  out  of  Benderloch  and  were  off  for 
Oban — with  Oban  only  nine  miles  away. 

When  we  arrived  at  the  station  in  the  city  we 
were  met  by  what  appeared  to  be  an  immense 
crowd,  people  who  had  heard,  we  presume,  that 
some  fool  American  had  hired  a  special  train  to 
bring  him  and  his  family  and  motor  to  the  city 
that  he  might  not  miss  the  joys  and  delights  of 
an  Oban  Sunday.  We  felt  very  much  as  if  we 
were  the  Lord  Mayors  and  Mayoresses  of  some 
town  being  received  with  the  freedom  of  the 
city.  To  the  frugal  Scotch  such  reckless  ex- 
travagance as  a  special  train  to  save  a  few  hours 
was  a  folly  which  would  be  indulged  in  only  by 
Americans.  We  still  feel  that  in  a  country 
where  a  shilling  is  spent  as  we  in  America  spend 
a  dollar,  our  special  will  long  be  referred  to  as 
an  evidence  of  the  recklessness  with  which 
Americans  throw  their  money  away. 

Oban  is  termed  by  Baedeker,  *'The  Charing 
Cross  of  the  Highlands,"  because  it  is  the  center 
of  so  much  traffic  by  rail  and  steamer.  It  lacks 
any  individual  interest  other  than  that  which 
attaches  to  many  places  having  attractive  views 


216 


On  the  trip  from  Inverness  the  road  keeps 
close  to  the  Caledonian  Canal,  trhieh  is  formed 
1)1/  eonnerling  a  slrinf/  of  lieautiful  lakes. 


Cmtjarfeins  for  Srelanb 


of  sea  and  mountain.  It  is  the  keystone  of  tlie 
arch  for  tourists  to  the  west  of  Scotland,  how- 
ever, and  is  thronged  all  summer,  as  it  is  the 
point  from  which  many  trips  by  land  and  sea 
are  started. 

The  Alexandra  Hotel,  at  which  we  stopped, 
is  thoroughly  high  class  in  iU  charges.  It  is 
still  a  question  for  discussion  among  our  party 
whether  the  springless  beds  we  tried  to  sleep  in 
were  made  of  uneven  wooden  blocks  set  on 
end,  or  pine  tree  cones.  In  either  event  they 
were  the  worst  we  found  on  our  tour.  Our  Oban 
experience  confirmed  us  in  the  belief  that  the 
so-called  "Station"  hotels,  operated  and  owned 
by  the  railway  companies,  are  the  best  at  which 
to  stop  in  most  if  not  all  Scotch  cities  of  im- 
portance. 

The  trip  from  Oban  to  Ardlui,  which  is  sit- 
uated at  the  north  end  of  Loch  Lomond,  we  made 
on  Sunday  and  it  is  one  of  the  days  we  shall 
always  remember.  The  Brander  Pass  over 
which  we  traveled  furnished  one  of  the  best 
tests  of  the  hill-climbing  abilities  of  our  car 
to  which  we  had  put  it.  The  road,  which 
leads  over  the  divide  separating  the  lake  region 
of  Scotland  from  the  sea,  is  laid  through  a  defile 
in  the  mountains  with  snow-capped  Ben  Nevis 

217 


jHotorins  ^broab 


in  sight  to  the  north  and  Loch  Lomond  and  the 
surrounding  mountains  on  the  east  and  south. 
It  is  narrow  and  tortuous  with  steep  grades  and 
sharp  decUvities  and  its  surface  we  found  was 
none  too  good  because  of  the  many  loose  stones. 

But  the  views  that  we  enjoyed  will  never  be 
forgotten  by  any  of  the  party.  They  were 
sublime  and  magnificent,  and  we  often  wished 
for  a  camera  which  would  have  the  capacity  to 
furnish  a  satisfactory  photographic  reproduc- 
tion. It  was  the  typical  scenery  of  the  Scotch 
highlands  we  had  so  often  seen  pictured,  with 
here  and  there  a  group  of  long-haired  cattle  in 
the  foreground  and  always  a  background  of 
mountains. 

From  either  side  of  the  road  the  heather 
stretched  far  up  on  the  mountainside,  which 
was  broken  here  and  there  by  waterfalls  or  deep 
ravines.  We  followed  a  stream  almost  all  the 
way;  one  from  Oban  to  its  source  and  then, 
crossing  the  ridge,  another  down  to  Ardlui  where 
it  emptied  into  Loch  Lomond. 

Some  of  the  grades  in  the  road  which  we 
passed  over  are  so  steep  that  only  high-powered 
cars  can  take  them,  and  during  the  day  we 
passed  three  touring  cars  which  had  been  aban- 
doned and  left  at  the  side  of  the  road  by  parties 

218 


We  will  never  forget  the  beautiful  ride  along 
the  shores  of  Luck  Lomond  from  Tarbet  down 
to  Balloch. 


Cmbarfeing  for  HJfrelanti 


who  had  evidently  given  up  the  attempt.  Our 
car,  with  its  load  of  six  people  and  two  heavy 
trunks  strapped  on  behind,  made  the  trip  with- 
out missing  an  explosion  of  a  cylinder,  and  so 
delighted  were  we  when  we  reached  the  summit 
that  we  all  felt  that  we  ought  to  give  the  car  a 
deserved  rest,  while  we  sat  in  silent  admiration 
of  the  sublime  view  of  the  valley  far  below  us. 

We  stopped  at  Ardlui  only  long  enough  to 
have  a  cup  of  tea  and  a  light  luncheon,  and  then 
pushed  on  down  the  beautiful,  mountain- 
hemmed  loch  to  Tarbet,  where  we  found  one 
of  the  most  attractively  situated  hotels  in  Scot- 
land. All  there  is  of  Tarbet  is  the  hotel,  which 
faces  Loch  Lomond  with  nothing  between  it  and 
the  water  but  well-kept  lawns.  The  house  gives 
indications  of  having  been  originally  built  as 
the  residence  of  nobility.  It  is  of  granite 
and  very  substantial  in  appearance,  and  is 
admirably  conducted.  It  offers  the  finest  view 
up  and  down  the  loch  to  be  found  anywhere, 
and  also  one  of  the  best  view^s  of  Ben  Lomond 
and  the  Trossachs  across  the  water.  All  the  time 
we  were  there,  however,  the  summit  of  Ben 
Lomond  was  wrapped  in  mist  so  that  we  did 
not  get  a  good  view  ol  its  symmetrical  form. 

Inversnaid,    which    is    the    entrance    to    the 

219 


iHotoring  ^broab 


Trossachs,  is  almost  opposite  the  Tarbet  Hotel. 
It  is  from  this  point  that  the  coaching  trips 
begin,  but  we  did  not  go  over,  as  motors  are 
prohibited  in  that  section. 

We  stayed  all  night  at  Tarbet  and  then  fol- 
lowed the  road  which  hugs  the  west  shore  of  the 
loch  closely  all  the  way  down  to  its  foot  at 
Balloch.  This  is  a  most  beautiful,  but  most 
dangerous  road  for  motoring.  It  winds  in  and 
out  along  the  shores  of  the  loch  with  so  many 
and  such  abrupt  turns  that  there  is  constant 
danger  of  colliding  with  motor  cars  coming  in 
the  opposite  direction.  In  fact,  there  are  so 
many  curves,  at  which  a  view  of  the  road  ahead 
is  obscured  by  embankments  and  bushes,  that  a 
collision  would  have  been  almost  inevitable  had 
we  met  a  motor  car  at  any  one  of  the  most  danger- 
ous points.  We  kept  our  siren  going  almost  con- 
tinuously and  ran  very  slowly,  taking  nearly  two 
hours  for  the  trip  from  Tarbet  to  Balloch,  a  dis- 
tance of  only  about  eighteen  miles.  We  were 
glad  to  go  slowly,  however,  for  it  gave  us  fuller 
opportunities  of  enjoying  the  many  exquisite 
views  across  and  upon  the  farther  shore  of  the 
loch. 

When  we  reached  Balloch  it  was  but  a  short 
run  to  the  Clj'de  and,  as  we  did  not  care  to  go 

220 


We  crossed  the  Clyde  heloic  Glnst/ntr  on  o  plat- 
form fcrrii,  one  em!  of  which  they  ran  up  on 
the  slone-partd  short-. 


Cmbarfeins  for  HJrelanb 


into  Glasgow  because  of  the  long  run  through 
an  uninviting  tenement  and  manufacturing  dis- 
trict along  the  Clyde,  we  crossed  the  river  at  a 
ferry  just  before  reaching  the  outskirts  of  the 
city  and  took  the  straight  road  for  Paisley,  the 
city  that  makes  the  famous  shawls,  one  of  which 
it  is  said  the  late  Queen  Victoria  always  gave  as 
a  wedding  present.  We  stopped  there  for 
luncheon  and  then  ran  on  to  Troon,  which  we 
reached  early  in  the  afternoon. 

We  stopped  here  at  the  Marine  Hotel,  beau- 
tifully situated  out  on  the  edge  of  the  town,  al- 
most adjacent  to  the  handsome  granite  golf  club- 
house and  with  nothing  but  the  links  between 
it  and  the  sea.  It  had  been  very  highly  recom- 
mended to  us,  and  we  found  it  fully  up  to  its 
reputation  as  one  of  the  best  of  Scotch  hotels. 

The  Troon  and  the  Prestwick  golf  courses, 
which  are  among  the  most  renowned  in  Scot- 
land, adjoin  each  other  so  closely  that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  two  clubs  frequently  play  from  one 
clubhouse  to  the  other — playing  the  first  nine 
holes  over  one  course  and  the  second  nine  over 
the  next,  and  then,  after  lunch,  playing  back 
again  and  covering  thirty-six  holes  in  all. 

Letters  which  we  carried  were  an  open  sesame 
at  the  Troon  Club.     We  were  made  very  wel- 

221 


iHotoring  ^broab 


come  there  and  enjoyed  some  fine  games.  Prest- 
wick  is  said  to  be  the  most  exclusive  club  in 
Scotland  and  no  one  is  permitted  the  privileges  of 
its  links  except  upon  a  letter  of  introduction  from 
a  member.  These  we  had  fortunately  been  pro- 
vided with  so  that,  during  the  three  days  we  spent 
at  Troon,  my  son  and  I  were  enabled  to  play  over 
each  course.  It  is  said  that  the  waiting  list  at 
Prestwick  is  such  a  long  one  that  gentlemen 
propose  their  sons  for  membership  as  soon  as 
they  are  born,  in  the  hope  that  they  will  be 
elected  by  the  time  they  reach  the  age  of  eligi- 
bility. 

While  we  were  at  Troon  we  made  several  visits 
to  Ayr  and  a  number  of  other  interesting  places 
in  the  land  o'  Burns.  xVlmost  everything  in  and 
around  Ayr  is  built  about  the  history  of  the  poet 
Burns,  and  everybody  who  visits  the  town  of 
course  goes  to  see  the  cottage  in  which  he  was 
born  in  1759,  and  which  now  contains  a  few 
relics  of  this  distinguished  Scot.  We  visited 
also,  as  every  one  does,  the  Auld  Alio  way  Kirk, 
between  which  and  the  road  is  the  grave  of 
Burns's  father.  Just  beyond  the  church  are  two 
bridges  across  the  Doon,  the  older  one  being  the 
one  over  which  Tam  o'Shanter  is  said  to  have 
escaped. 

222 


Cmbarfeing  for  Srelanb 


Leaving  Troon  we  followed  the  coast  down 
through  Girvan  and  Turnberry  to  Stranraer 
where  we  planned  to  take  the  boat  across  the 
North  Channel  to  Lame  in  Ireland.  This  road 
is  most  beautiful  and  picturesque,  and  the 
country  is  such  a  favorite  one  with  tourists  that 
the  railway  company  has  just  completed  an  im- 
mense hotel  at  Turnberry  and  a  fine  eighteen- 
hole  golf  course.  The  sea  was  in  full  view  almost 
the  entire  distance,  as  was  the  Ailsa  Craig,  a 
bold,  symmetrical  mountain  which  rises  directly 
out  of  the  sea  ten  miles  off  shore.  It  was  par- 
ticularly beautiful  the  day  we  passed  as  clouds 
were  hanging  to  its  sides,  and  hiding  every  little 
while  its  summit  from  view. 

We  were  cautioned  by  the  telegram  which  we 
had  received  from  the  agent  of  the  steamship 
line  at  Stranraer,  to  have  our  motor  there  at  six 
o'clock  to  insure  its  being  taken  across  to  Ireland 
that  night.  We  had  calculated  our  time  and 
distance  so  that  we  should  reach  the  boat  in 
ample  time,  but  about  four  miles  out  of  Stranraer 
our  left  rear  wheel  settled  and  we  discovered  a 
flat  tire.  "A  puncture,"  we  all  cried  in  unison, 
and  sure  enough  it  was  one,  the  very  first  we 
had  had.  We  had  made  the  entire  trip  through 
France  and  up  through  England  and  Scotland 

223 


iHotoring  ^broab 


and  down  almost  to  the  point  of  leaving  Scot- 
land without  a  single  puncture,  and  that  we 
should  have  our  first  experience  at  just  the  time 
when  we  wanted  to  catch  a  boat  to  save  a  day 
was  exasperating. 

Not  a  moment  was  lost  in  getting  the  tools  out, 
jacking  up  the  car,  loosening  the  shoe  and  tak- 
ing out  the  old  tube.  It  was  a  case  of  team  work 
and  we  did  not  even  look  to  see  where  the 
puncture  was  in  the  inner  tube,  but  put  in  another 
one  and  made  record  time  in  getting  the  tire 
back  on  and  blowing  it  up.  Tools  were  thrown 
into  the  tonneau,  every  one  climbed  in  in  a  hurry 
and  off  we  rushed,  reaching  the  boat  just  in  time. 

To  get  the  car  on  the  steamer  was  some- 
what of  a  problem.  The  boat,  like  many  in 
channel  service,  was  a  side-wheeler,  and  the  after 
portion  of  the  boat,  where  the  car  was  to  be 
loaded,  was  far  away  from  the  pier  and  there 
was  no  derrick  by  which  it  could  be  lifted  aboard. 
It  was,  therefore,  necessary  to  run  the  car  down 
heavy  eighteen-foot  planks  reaching  from  the 
quay  to  the  deck  of  the  boat. 

George  climbed  up  and  took  the  wheel  with 
what  we  all  thought  was  a  good  deal  of  nerve. 
Sloping  blocks  were  put  against  the  end  of  the 
planks  so  that  the  front  wheels  could  be  run  up 

224 


It  required  cool  neri-e  and  careJuJ  handling  to 
run  the  car  on  the  boat  over  the  two  long  planks. 


Cmbarfeing  for  Srelanti 


on  them.  The  planks  themselves  had  to  be 
adjusted  with  absolute  measurement  so  they 
would  come  exactly  in  front  of  each  wheel  and 
avoid  the  possibility  of  the  car  going  off  either 
side.  When  I  saw  how  the  car  was  to  be  loaded 
I  willingly  paid  the  extra  fee  of  five  shillings 
for  handling  and  shipment  at  the  company's 
risk,  making  the  total  charge  for  freight  and 
handling  27.^  6d  (about  ($6.60). 

We  finally  got  the  front  wheels  up  on  the 
planks  and  then  George  gradually  let  the  car 
down  the  incline  until  the  rear  wheels  were  also 
on  the  planks.  Then,  with  brakes  hard-set,  he 
lowered  it  inch  by  inch  until  it  was  safe  on  the 
deck.  There  was  a  sheer  drop  between  the 
planks  and  the  water  of  at  least  ten  to  fifteen 
feet  and  the  least  little  swerving  of  the  car  would 
have  caused  a  disaster.  We  all  breathed  freer 
when  we  saw  it  safe  on  the  deck  and  lashed  in 
place,  and  promptly  adjourned  to  the  dining- 
saloon  for  dinner. 

We  had  the  first  evidence  here  that  we  were 
getting  within  the  zone  of  Ireland.  The  waiters 
all  had  a  broad  Irish  brogue  and  many  of  the 
passengers  showed  distinctly  by  their  speech  and 
conversation  that  they  were  at  home  on  the 
Emerald  Isle. 

225 


^^r^ 


Cfjapter  i^ineteen 

"Wi^t  i^ortfj  of  Srelanli  anlr 
(§iant'g  Causetoap 


On  the  wati  to  the  (Hani's  C'auseirat/  we  passed 
under  a  curiuus  arch  cut  out  of  solid  rock. 


chapter  JSineteen 
(irte  i^ortf)  of  SrelanU  anti  tt)e  (Giant's;  Cau2ietoaj> 

THE  run  across  to  Larne  is  only  about  two 
hours  and  at  the  landing  stage  we  found 
a  derrick  equipped  for  lifting  the  car 
out.  The  rain  which  we  hoped  we  had  left  in 
Scotland  was  following  us,  however,  and  we 
were  glad  to  get  under  shelter  at  the  Olderfleet 
Hotel,  which  adjoins  the  quay. 

We  left  Larne  bright  and  early  the  next 
morning  to  make,  if  possible,  the  run  up  to 
the  Giant's  Causeway  and  get  back  to  Belfast 
that  evening.  This  would  necessitate  our  doing 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles.  We 
followed  the  coast  road  and  found  it  good,  al- 
though not  up  to  the  standard  of  the  roads  in 
England  and  Scotland  and  far  below  those  in 
France.  It  was  about  such  a  road  as  one  would 
find  in  going  from  New  York  to  Boston.  The 
country  looked  prosperous,  and  we  all  said  that 
the  poverty  and  squalor  of  Ireland  must  be  a 
myth  if  it  was  all  like  this  portion.     Were  it  not 

229 


otortng  ^broab 


for  the  thatched-roof  cottages,  the  scores  of  peat 
beds  and  the  typical  Irish  jaunting  cars  we  saw, 
we  might  easily  have  imagined  ourselves  touring 
in  the  most  fertile  and  well-wooded  parts  of  the 
Massachusetts  coast.  We  had  some  glorious 
views  of  the  sea,  and  stopped  to  enjoy  them,  and 
also  to  watch  a  shooting  party  working  the 
moors  with  well-trained  dogs  and  beaters. 

Our  route,  which  was  plainly  shown  on 
Bartholomew's  Road  Maps  that  we  used,  took 
us  along  the  very  edge  of  the  cliffs  skirting  the 
sea  and  through  the  picturesque  little  towns  of 
Glenarm  and  Ballycastle,  thoroughly  Irish,  al- 
though prosperous  in  appearance.  Many  of  the 
towns  in  Ireland  prefix  "Bally"  as  part  of  their 
name.  We  did  not  learn  what  it  meant  although 
we  asked  a  number  of  persons. 

We  reached  the  Giant's  Causeway  about  noon 
without  incident  except  nearly  frightening  a 
small  boy  to  death.  Just  as  we  came  around 
a  curve  in  the  road  we  discovered  him  a  short 
distance  ahead  of  us  and  turned  our  big  siren 
loose  for  one  of  its  longest  and  loudest  wails. 
This  was  too  much  for  the  boy.  He  took  one 
glance  at  the  car  rushing  toward  him  and  evi- 
dently thinking  the  devil  himself  was  coming, 
he  broke  out  into  the  most  agonizing  yells  as  he 

230 


Ki)t  ^imVsi  Causietoap 


stood  at  the  side  of  the  road  actually  "frightened 
stiff,"  as  boys  say.  I  think  I  have  never  seen 
such  an  expression  of  abject  terror  on  a  human 
face  as  was  shown  on  his  when  we  rushed  by  him. 
While  we  were  in  Ireland  I  saw  a  letter  received 
by  a  gentleman  who  had  been  touring  there, 
which  is  worth  quoting.     It  was  as  follows: 

Sligo,  May  11th,  1906. 
Sir: 

Take  notice  too  what  I  say,  on  February  24th  your  motor  car 
came  on  the  pubHck  road  from  Ballaghadereen  direction  as  soon 
as  you  came  on  the  Clabough  road  near  Lough  Garadident  you 
see  a  young  girl  running  with  a  Polly  Black  cow,  you  never 
sounded  the  horn  untill  you  were  close  by  me,  I  was  nervous  for 
the  past  seven  years  on  account  of  the  death  of  my  brother,  I  got 
better  of  the  complaint,  Doctor  O 'Boyle  that  attended  me  when 
I  was  nervous  and  he  had  great  pity  for  me,  he  told  me  if  I  ever 
got  a  fret  again  I  would  get  nervous  a  second  time,  and  he  said 
the  second  nervousness  would  be  worst  than  the  first,  I  got  sick 
after  the  fret  I  got  with  your  motor  on  Friday,  February  24th. 
Honourable  gentleman,  I  appeal  to  you  for  some  charity,  as  I  am 
an  orphant  girl,  the  clergymen  and  gentlemen  about  my  place 
told  me  to  let  you  know  about  it  they  told  me  you  are  a  good 
gentleman  that  will  give  me  some  charity  money  when  I  got  sick 
by  the  motor  fret. 

(signed)  Mary  O'Brien. 

When  we  approached  the  Giant's  Causeway 
we  were  met  by  the  enterprising  runners  of  the 
two  principal  hotels  there,  and  it  looked  for  a 
few  moments  as  if  we  would  have  to  resort 
to  something  more  than  diplomacy  to  protect 

231 


iHotorins  ^tiroatr 


ourselves  from  their  insistence.  Each  man 
represented  that  his  was  the  only  hotel  which 
self-respecting  motorists  should  for  a  moment 
consider  patronizing.  One  man  even  went  so 
far  as  to  stand  in  front  of  our  car  and  tell  us 
that  automobiles  were  not  permitted  up  the  road 
to  his  rival's  hotel,  w^hicli  we  had  started  to  take. 
His  competitor,  however,  was  alert  and  told  us 
to  drive  ahead  which  we  did,  almost  upsetting 
the  man  in  our  way. 

We  had  selected  the  Causeway  Hotel  and  en- 
joyed a  very  satisfactory  lunch  there  before 
starting  out  for  the  tour  of  this  wonderful  crea- 
tion of  Nature. 

There  is  nothing  to  be  said  about  the  Giant's 
Causeway  which  has  not  already  been  said  or 
written.  It  is  w^onderful  and  impressive  beyond 
all  description  and  is  in  itself  worth  the  trip  to 
Ireland.  Even  its  location  is  dramatic,  standing 
as  it  does  at  the  very  north  end  of  the  island. 
The  mythical  stories  connected  with  it  as  re- 
lated by  the  glib-tongued  guides,  each  of  whom 
will  solemnly  aver  that  he  is  the  best  guide  there, 
are  worth  listening  to. 

The  most  popular  story  is  that  the  ancient 
gods  who  lived  in  Ireland  and  Scotland  in  the 
age  of  mythological  things,  got  into  a  quarrel 

232 


Wi)t  ^iant*^  Causietoap 


and  the  Irish  god  dared  the  Scotch  one  to  come 
over  and  fight  it  out.  "How  can  1  cross  the  sea?" 
the  Scotch  god  is  supposed  to  have  repHed. 
"Even  my  seven-league  boots  and  my  colossal 
legs  will  not  take  me  across  in  safety,  therefore 
I  cannot  come,  although  if  I  should  come  I 
would  easily  be  able  to  wring  your  neck  with 
one  hand  tied  behind  me."  "That  you  could 
not  do  had  you  a  score  of  hands,"  replied  the 
Irish  god,  "and,  to  explode  your  idle  claim  that 
it's  the  sea  between  us  that  is  keeping  you  from 
a  fight  I'll  lay  a  walk  for  you  to  cross  on  dry- 
footed."  And  with  that  he  plucked  a  few  hun- 
dred thousand  granite  blocks  from  the  great 
cliffs,  hewed  them  in  octagon  shape  so  as  to 
make  a  good  pavement,  and  drove  them,  end 
on,  into  the  sea,  making  a  roadway  across. 

Mythology  does  not  record  whether  the  Scot 
then  came  over  or  how  the  fight,  if  they  had  one, 
came  out,  but  the  stones  to  the  number  of  over 
fourteen  thousand  are  still  there,  running  far 
out  into  and  under  the  surface  of  the  sea. 

We  spent  a  couple  of  hours  walking  over  the 
smoothly  surfaced  octagon-shaped  stones  which 
form  the  Causeway,  and  each  one  of  the  party 
sat  in  the  famous  "Wishing  Chair,"  a  single  stone 
set  lower  than  the  ones  on  either  side  and  be- 

233 


otoring  ^broab 


hind,  so  as  to  form  a  granite  chair  of  comfortable 
proportions.  Every  one  who  sits  here,  so  the  story 
goes,  and  makes  a  wish,  is  certain  to  have  it 
fulfilled.  It  would  be  curious  to  know  how 
many  million  people  have  received  what  they 
wanted  if  this  be  true,  for  the  wishing  chair  has 
been  occupied  almost  every  minute  of  daylight 
for  centuries  by  the  steady  procession  of  travelers 
and  excursionists  who  have  visited  the  Causeway. 

After  taking  a  boat  and  visiting  the  near-by 
caves,  which  open  out  into  the  sea  and  can  only  be 
entered  when  the  sea  is  relatively  smooth  and  at 
low  tide,  and  running  the  gauntlet  of  curio  ven- 
ders, we  started  on  our  run  to  Belfast.  Our  route 
took  us,  first,  through  Bushmills,  only  a  few 
miles  from  the  Causeway.  This  is  where  the 
famous  distilleries  are  located  from  which  comes 
the  finest  of  all  Irish  whisky,  known  wherever 
good  liquor  is  know:i.  From  here  we  ran  in  a 
few  minutes  to  Port  Rush,  a  popular  resort  hav- 
ing the  finest  golf  links  in  Ireland,  thence  south- 
east through  Ballymena  and  Antrim,  reaching 
Belfast  and  the  Grand  Central  Hotel,  which  is 
too  poor  for  such  a  pretentious  name,  just  about 
dark. 

The  afternoon  run  took  us  through  a  typical 
Irish  country  of  the  better  class.     We  saw  no 

234 


tKfje  (Giant's!  Caujfetoap 


noticeable  poverty;  instead  the  country  folk 
looked  fairly  prosperous.  Our  American  flag, 
which  we  had  attached  to  one  of  our  lamps, 
and  which  had  fluttered  in  the  breezes  through- 
out the  entire  trip,  attracted  a  good  deal  of  atten- 
tion. We  imagined  it  gave  us  a  welcome  be- 
cause almost  every  family  in  the  north  of  Ireland 
has  friends  or  relatives  somewhere  in  the  United 
States,  if  not  on  the  New  York  police  force. 
Our  siren  seemed  to  be  an  entire  novelty  and 
frequently,  if  we  let  it  out  while  going  through 
some  of  the  streets  in  the  little  towns,  where 
every  front  door  opened  directly  upon  the  pave- 
ment, it  would  bring  the  entire  population  to 
windows  or  doors,  and  send  children,  pigs,  dogs, 
and  geese  scurrying  to  places  of  safety. 

If  Belfast  was  all  there  was  in  Ireland  it  would 
not  pay  the  motorist  to  go  there.  It  is  a  great 
busy,  thriving  city  of  nearly  400,000  inhabitants. 
It  has  been  for  many  years,  and  is  at  present,  the 
headquarters  of  the  linen  industries  of  Ireland; 
it  is  also  a  great  shipbuilding  center  where  many 
of  the  largest  trans-Atlantic  liners  are  con- 
structed. It  lies  low,  and  a  large  portion  of  it  has 
been  built  upon  ground  reclaimed  from  the 
river  or  sea,  although  there  are  hills  to  the  north 
and  the  west. 

235 


otortns  ^broab 


Belfast  strikes  the  stranger  as  a  particularly 
dirty,  ill-kept  town,  and  the  hotel  at  which  we 
stopped  emphasized  the  impression.  It  is  un- 
fortunate that  a  city  of  its  size  and  importance 
should  not  have  a  better  leading  hotel,  one  that 
would  do  credit  to  the  town. 

Belfast  is  said  to  be  the  cheapest  place  in  all 
Europe  or  Great  Britain  in  which  to  shop,  and 
this  was  borne  out  by  our  experience.  Any  one 
who  wishes  to  buy  fine  linen,  from  laces  to  table 
cloths,  can  find  it  in  Belfast;  not  only  as  good 
but  cheaper  than  any  other  place  in  the  world. 

The  buildings,  especially  in  the  main  portion 
of  Belfast,  are  very  pretentious,  and  there  are 
several  fine  statues  in  the  business  streets,  not- 
ably those  of  Queen  Victoria,  Lord  Dufferin,  and 
Sir  Edward  Harland  of  shipbuilding  fame,  which 
attract  a  great  deal  of  attention,  as  also  does  the 
Royal  Victoria  Hospital,  one  of  the  finest  in 
Great  Britain,  opened  in  1903. 

The  first  forenoon  we  were  in  Belfast  we 
visited  the  Albert  Memorial  Clock  Tower,  the 
magnificent  new  City  Hall,  one  of  the  finest 
municipal  buildings  in  the  world,  and  several 
other  public  institutions.  We  also  took  jaunting 
cars  and  went  down  through  the  slums.  There 
is  probably  more  squalor  and  abject  poverty  in 

236 


There  are  some  wonderful  rock  effects  on  the 
North  Shore  of  Ireland,  up  near  the  Cause- 
way, which  show  the  fierce  pounding  of  the  sea. 


EJje  ^ianVsi  Causfetoap 


Belfast  than  in  any  other  city  of  its  size  except 
Edinburgh  and  Glasgow.  It  was  really  revolting 
to  see,  during  our  drive  through  the  streets  of 
the  tenement  district,  how  low  humanity  could 
get.  One  street  for  almost  an  entire  block  was 
devoted  to  a  bazar  for  the  sale  of  things  which 
the  poor  were  trying  to  dispose  of  to  meet  rent 
or  to  buy  liquor.  There  was  everything  for  sale 
here  from  second-hand  combs  that  had  done 
service  for  a  generation,  and  old  shoes,  up  to 
broken  looking-glasses  and  china  ware,  and  old 
dresses,  coats  and  trousers  that  looked  as  if  they 
would  not  hang  together  an  hour. 

The  jaunting  cars,  which  we  used  for  all  our 
sight-seeing  and  shopping  in  Belfast,  because  of 
their  novelty,  are  an  institution  of  Ireland;  they 
are  as  frequently  met  on  the  main  streets  as  are 
cabs  in  Regent  Street,  London.  It  is  great  fun 
to  ride  in  them,  and  the  nimbleness  with  which 
the  ladies  accustomed  to  their  use  will  climb  up 
on  the  seats,  which  are  back  to  back  lengthwise 
of  the  high-wheeled  car,  and  jump  off  is  some- 
thing of  a  marvel  to  Americans.  It  costs  a 
shilling  for  one  or  two  passengers  to  go  practi- 
cally anywhere  in  the  city  and  we  found  the 
drivers  always  ready  with  an  apt  and  in  many 
instances  a  witty  reply. 

237 


Cfjapter  i;toentp 
Jfrom  iOielfastt  to  JBublin 


chapter  tCtoentp 

0ut  ^rip  from  Pelfa^t  to  ©utjlin,  toirt)  an 
Wintxptttth  experience 

WE  left  Belfast  after  lunch,  for  the  run  of 
one  hundred  and  ten  miles  to  Dublin 
expecting  to  reach  the  latter  city  early 
that  evening,  but  we  found  that  while  the  dis- 
tance was  put  down  as  one  hundred  and  ten 
miles,  they  were  Irish  miles,  which  are  about 
a  third  again  as  long  as  English  miles,  so  that 
the  real  distance  between  the  two  cities  is  about 
one  hundred  and  forty  miles. 

The  road  over  which  we  traveled  is  a  superb 
one ;  it  is  called  the  Great  North  Road,  the  same 
name  which  applies  to  the  road  we  took  from 
London  to  Edinburgh.  It  is  perfectly  made 
and  kept  in  the  best  of  condition.  The  country 
we  went  through  is  rich  and  prosperous,  and  we 
saw  many  very  handsome  estates  which  are 
maintained  in  as  fine  condition  as  are  those  in 
England.  Our  road  took  us  through  Newry 
and  Dundalk  at  the  head  of  the  great  Dundalk 

241 


JHotoring  ^broab 


Bay.  From  there  we  skirted  the  coast  down  to 
Dunleer. 

We  were  passing  through  a  beautiful  country 
between  hedges  and  under  great  trees  when 
hang!  went  one  of  our  rear  tires  with  a  noise  so 
loud  and  so  startling  that  our  first  impression 
was  we  had  been  shot  at  for  speeding.  It  took 
us  but  a  minute  to  ascertain  our  mistake,  and  to 
find  that  we  had  a  flat  tire  with  a  blow-out  about 
eight  inches  long.  We  left  the  shoe  at  the  side 
of  the  road,  put  on  our  spare  one,  an  extra 
Michelin  which  we  had  carried  with  us  on  the 
entire  trip,  and  started  off  again  in  good  spirits 
hoping  that  our  delay  would  not  interfere  with 
our  reaching  Dublin  during  the  early  evening. 
We  had  gone  less  than  ten  miles  when  w4th  a 
report  fully  as  loud  as  the  first  one,  hang!  went 
our  other  rear  tire. 

Then  we  were  in  real  trouble  as  we  did  not 
have  a  second  shoe  with  us.  We  congratulated 
ourselves,  however,  that  we  had  gone  thus  far 
on  our  entire  trip  with  only  one  puncture  and 
two  blow-outs  and  commented  on  the  fact  that 
the  tires  which  we  had  put  on  at  Havre  when  we 
started  the  tour,  had  lasted  the  same  distance 
within  less  than  ten  miles.  I  am  satisfied  that 
they  would  have  taken  us  into  Dublin  if  we  had 

242 


Jfrom  PeUasit  to  ©ublin 


not  been  running  so  fast  on  the  hard-surfaced 
road  that  they  became  overheated.  The  pace 
of  the  car  had  hardly  been  slackened  since  we 
had  left  Belfast,  and  if  we  had  taken  the  precau- 
tion to  stop  at  some  well  or  stream  and  cool  the 
tires  by  pouring  water  over  them,  a  trick  we 
learned  in  France,  they  probably  would  have 
lasted  us  for  many  more  miles. 

We  limped  along  on  a  flat  tire  to  the  nearest 
town,  which  was  Dunleer  and  drew  up  at  a  little 
inn  with  the  idea  of  staying  all  night.  One  look, 
however,  at  the  inside  of  the  house,  which  proved 
to  be  more  of  a  wine  shop  and  gathering  place 
for  the  neighborhood  than  a  comfortable  place 
for  ladies  to  stay,  decided  us  to  go  on  by  train  to 
Dublin  where  we  could  buy  additional  tires  and 
return  in  the  morning  to  continue  the  trip. 

We  asked  how  soon  we  could  get  a  train  into 
the  city  and  the  obliging  proprietor,  looking  at 
the  clock,  said  it  was  due  at  the  station  in  three 
minutes.  With  that  the  ladies  in  the  party,  who 
were  in  abject  horror  of  having  to  stay  at  this 
house  all  night,  sprang  out  of  the  car,  grabbed 
the  valise  containing  toilet  articles  and  started 
on  a  run  up  the  street  for  the  station,  having 
received  hasty  directions  as  to  how  to  reach  it. 
I  told  the  proprietor  that  we  wanted  to  leave  the 

243 


iHotoring  ^broab 


car  with  him  all  night  till  we  could  get  up  to 
Dublin  and  get  new  tires  and  by  the  time  I  had 
made  this  explanation  the  ladies  had  hailed  a 
jaunting  car,  climbed  up  on  it  and  were  driving 
posthaste  toward  the  station.  I  started  after 
them  realizing  that  the  party  ought  not  to  be 
separated  and  that  it  was  up  to  me  to  do  some 
sprinting.  In  the  meantime  the  boys  had  run 
the  car  into  the  courtyard,  much  to  the  con- 
sternation of  the  pigs  and  chickens,  shut  the 
power  off,  jumped  out  into  the  street  like  wild 
men  and  w^ere  sprinting  after  me  down  the  road. 
This  was  enough  for  the  little  town  of  Dunleer. 
It  was  evidently  the  sensation  of  the  year  and 
the  doorways  of  every  one  of  the  two  score 
houses  of  the  place  were  soon  filled  with  women 
and  children  watching  the  race  for  the  station, 
and  wondering,  I  suppose,  what  sort  of  crazy 
people  had  struck  the  town.  Before  any  of  us 
reached  the  station  the  train  had  pulled  in  and 
when  we  got  there  our  dismay  was  doubled  when 
we  saw  that  we  had  to  climb  up  a  stairway, 
cross  the  tracks  on  an  elevated  walk  and  go 
down  on  the  other  side.  In  the  meantime  we 
were  yelling  like  Comanche  Indians  to  hold  the 
train,  realizing  that  it  was  the  last  chance  to  get 
out  of  town  that  night. 

244 


The  Irish  collage  is  of  a  type  quite  ils  own. 
Four  walls,  a  thatched  roof,  a  door,  two  win- 
dows and  some  whitewash. 


Jfrom  illelfafit  to  Bublin 


Then  it  occurred  to  me  that  the  boys  had  not 
been  told  what  hotel  we  were  going  to  in  Dublin 
and  would  not  know  where  to  find  us.  But  just 
as  the  train  started  they  came  rushing  down  the 
platform,  having  violated  a  strictly  enforced  law 
by  jumping  down  on  the  tracks  and  climbing  up 
on  the  other  side  at  the  rear  of  the  train.  They 
were  giving  vent  to  such  vociferous  yells  to  attract 
attention  that  the  guard  held  the  train,  opened 
the  door  and  let  them  into  our  compartment, 
where  they  tumbled  into  seats  utterly  exhausted. 
We  had  covered  half  the  distance  of  forty  miles 
to  Dublin  before  they  got  back  suflScient  breath 
to  speak  intelligently.  Then  we  realized  that 
we  had  left  the  car  at  an  unknown  place  and 
in  addition  to  our  trunk  on  the  rear,  there  were 
in  the  tonneau  a  number  of  bundles  contain- 
ing linen,  Irish  tweeds,  etc.,  which  we  had 
purchased  in  Belfast. 

By  the  time  we  reached  Dublin  we  had  all 
regained  our  composure  and  took  cabs  up  to  the 
beautiful  Shelbourne  Hotel,  one  of  the  most 
delightful  houses  anywhere  in  Europe,  attrac- 
tively situated  on  St.  Stephen's  Green,  one  of  the 
large  parks  of  the  city. 

Early  the  next  morning,  as  soon  as  any  of  the 
automobile   supply  shops   were   open,   we  pur- 

245 


[otortns  ^tiroab 


chased  two  tires  (or  tyres  as  they  are  spelled 
everywhere  in  Great  Britain)  and  the  boys 
took  an  early  train  back  to  Dromin  Junc- 
tion, about  four  miles  from  the  place  where  we 
had  left  the  car  the  night  before,  the  early  train 
not  stopping  at  the  Dunleer.  The  agent  at 
Dublin  told  them  that  they  could  get  a  local 
train  at  Dromin,  but  when  they  got  there  they 
found  that  this  was  not  the  case  and  that  there 
was  no  train  until  afternoon.  Nor  was  there  any 
vehicle  to  be  found  there  that  they  could  hire, 
so,  with  the  heavy  tires  over  their  shoulders, 
they  footed  it  the  four  miles. 

When  they  reached  the  inn  where  the  car  had 
been  left  they  found  that  the  proprietor  had 
pushed  it  under  cover  and  had  brought  all  of  our 
packages  into  the  house,  in  fact  had  taken  excel- 
lent care  of  everything.  When  they  asked  what 
the  charge  was  he  replied  "nothing  at  all";  that 
he  hoped  we  had  made  our  train  and  was  sorry 
that  we  could  not  have  remained  with  him  all 
night  as  he  would  have  tried  to  have  made  us 
very  comfortable.  The  boys,  however,  insisted  on 
his  taking  four  shillings  as  a  fee  which  he  seemed 
to  think  was  an  exorbitant  amount,  as  he  had 
not  done  anything  to  warrant  it.  The  boys 
made  the  trip  into  Dublin  in  just  an  hour,  it  is 

246 


:f rom  IBelfasit  to  JBublin 


almost  needless  to  say,  treating  the  speed  limit 
of  the  country  with  absolute  disdain. 

Dublin  we  found  to  be  a  beautiful  city,  one  of 
the  most  attractive  we  had  visited.  It  is  the 
opposite  in  practically  everything  of  Belfast.  It  is 
more  like  our  city  of  Washington  in  the  beauty 
and  attractiveness  of  its  public  buildings  and 
residences.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  wealth 
there  and  it  is  the  center  of  the  social  life  of  the 
aristocracy  of  Ireland. 

We  regretted  exceedingly  that  we  w^ere  Just  a 
week  too  early  for  the  Horse  Show  so  that  we 
should  not  have  the  opportunity  of  enjoying  this 
event,  which  is  of  international  importance  and 
interest.  It  is  doubtful  if  even  the  great  races 
at  Ascot,  the  Derby,  or  the  St.  Leger  in  England, 
bring  together  a  more  fashionable  crowd  than  the 
Dublin  Horse  Show,  and  from  the  ladies  who 
had  already  gathered  in  the  city  for  the  Show  I 
am  sure  that  the  claim  often  made  that  there 
is  more  feminine  beauty  at  the  Dublin  Horse 
Show  than  at  any  gathering  in  the  world,  is 
correct. 

Thackeray  wrote,  a  great  many  years  ago,  that 
"a  handsomer  town  with  fewer  people  in  it  is 
impossible  to  meet  in  a  summer's  day."  There 
were  a  great  many  people  in  Dublin  when  we 

247 


iHotorins  ^firoali 


were  there  but  that  did  not  mar  the  general  hand- 
some appearance  of  the  city. 

DubUn  is  cut  in  two  by  what  is  called  The 
Liffey,  a  wide,  deep  stream  along  the  lower  por- 
tion of  which  the  steamers  dock.  It  is  crossed 
by  twelve  bridges,  each  of  which  is  substantial 
and  attractive  in  architecture,  and  the  full  width 
of  the  street  with  which  it  connects  on  either  side. 
The  shops  of  Grafton  Street  are  equal  to  those 
of  Paris  and  London,  not  only  in  the  beautiful 
goods  displayed  in  the  handsome  windows  and 
in  stock  but  in  the  variety  offered.  The  prices 
are,  as  a  general  thing,  much  lower  than  they  are 
in  the  leading  shops  of  London  or  Paris. 

The  first  record  of  Dublin  is  the  year  448  a.d., 
when  a  king  with  an  unpronounceable  name  was 
converted  to  Christianity  by  the  teachings  of  St. 
Patrick,  the  gentleman  who  subsequently  drove 
all  the  snakes  out  of  Ireland.  Later  the  city 
became  the  capital  of  the  Danish  settlements 
near-by.  In  1170,  the  Anglo-Normans  defeated 
the  ruler  and  put  him  to  death,  and  it  then 
passed  to  the  English  king,  Henry  11. ,  who  held 
his  court  here  in  a  pavilion  of  wickerwork  made, 
it  is  said,  "after  the  country  manner." 

The  public  buildings  of  Dublin,  including  the 
House    of    Parliament,    the    Bank    of    Ireland, 

248 


The  meeting  of  the  Irish  rtiarket  winnan  and 
her  invariable  companion  and  helper  is  an 
interesting  incident  of  a  tour  through  the 
Emerald  Isle. 


Jfrom  PeUagt  to  Bublin 


Trinity  College,  the  Castle  and  the  various 
cathedrals,  as  well  as  the  National  Museum  and 
Library,  are  well  worth  visiting.  They  are  not 
only  a  credit  to  Dublin;  they  would  be  a  credit 
to  any  nation.  The  city's  parks,  St.  Stephen's 
Green  and  the  great  Phoenix  Park,  made  famous 
by  the  murder  therein  of  Cavendish  and  Burke, 
compare  most  favorably  with  our  own  Central 
Park,  or  Prospect  Park  in  Brooklyn,  which,  inci- 
dentally, it  may  be  remarked,  are  more  beautiful 
than  any  of  the  parks  in  Europe. 

One  of  the  things  which  impressed  me  more 
than  anything  else  in  Dublin  was  the  splendid 
work  which  Lord  Iveagh,  the  head  of  the  Guin- 
ness Brewery,  has  been  doing  in  the  way  of 
model  tenement  houses.  He  purchased  a  large 
number  of  squares  in  the  very  poorest  and  most 
congested  portion  of  the  city,  tore  down  all  the 
old  buildings,  and  erected  thereon  fireproof  tene- 
ment houses,  four  stories  high.  They  are  so 
arranged  that  each  apartment  has  an  abundance 
of  light,  air  and  water,  and  connected  with  each 
house  are  large  laundries  and  facilities  for  bath- 
ing. The  roofs  of  the  houses  are  arranged  for 
playgrounds  and  I  was  told  that  prizes  were 
given  each  month  to  the  woman  who  kept  her 
apartment   in   the   cleanliest  condition.     Other 

249 


iWotoring  ^tiroab 


prizes  are  offered  for  those  who  have  the  nicest 
display  of  flowers  in  window  boxes.  A  premium 
is  thus  put  on  cleanhness  and  attractiveness. 
No  one  is  permitted  to  occupy  an  apartment 
w^ho  earns  more  than  a  stipulated  amount,  it 
being  the  intention  of  the  generous  owner  to 
have  the  poorest  people  benefit  by  his  philan- 
thropy. The  rents  charged  are  very  small;  yet 
I  was  told,  the  enterprise  pays  a  fair  interest 
on  the  money  invested. 

Here  certainly  is  a  practical  philanthropy 
which  some  of  our  multi-millionaires  could  pat- 
tern after  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the  poor, 
who  need  model  tenements  to  live  in,  and  to  the 
good  of  the  cities  in  general. 

We  should  have  enjoyed  staying  a  week  or  more 
in  Dublin,  and  wanted  very  much  to  take  the 
run  from  there  down  through  the  Lakes  of  Kil- 
larney  and  the  southwestern  portion  of  Ireland 
which  is  so  picturesque.  This  trip,  if  we  had 
been  able  to  make  it,  would  have  enabled  us  to 
visit  Limerick  and  to  kiss  the  Blarney  Stone, 
and  to  see  a  section  of  Ireland  which  is  noted 
every\\^here  as  being  among  the  world's  beauty 
spots.  But  time  was  limited  and  we  found  we 
had  to  abandon  the  trip  on  this  account. 

A  favorite  run  from  Dublin  is  down  the  coast 

250 


jFrom  Pelfafit  to  Bublin 


to  Wicklow;  thence  through  Wexford  to  Water- 
ford,  taking  in  Mt.  Mellary,  where  there  is  a 
quaint  monastery  of  Trappist  monks;  thence 
to  Lismore  and  Youghal  on  the  beautiful  Black- 
water  River,  and  from  there  to  Cork.  From 
Cork  it  is  but  a  short  run  through  a  magnificent 
country  over  the  hills  of  Kenmare  to  the  incom- 
parable Lakes  of  Killarney.  The  return  to 
Dublin  may  be  made  by  way  of  Limerick  and 
Maryborough  and  the  beauties  of  Ireland  en- 
joyed in  a  way  that  is  utterly  impossible  by  rail- 
road travel. 

I  am  satisfied  from  our  experience  in  Ireland 
that  it  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  countries  in 
which  to  motor,  and  there  is  a  wealth  of  scenery 
and  an  attractiveness  and  novelty  which  will 
amply  repay  the  visitor.  Any  one  touring  Eng- 
land can  easily  include  Ireland  because  the  trip 
over  and  back,  even  by  the  longest  sea  route,  is 
but  a  few  hours;  the  cost  of  taking  a  car  over 
is  nominal.  I  should  advise  any  motorist  who 
can  spare  an  extra  week  from  England  to  take 
in  Ireland. 


251 


The  coast  of  Wales  is  bold  and  bare  in  places, 
but  the  interior  of  the  country  is  a  realm  of 
beauty. 


BT^— PCKR^ 


1 


•Chapter  (Kttientpone 
Cfjrougf)  I2aale£f  into  Cnglanb 


TT'e  made  the  run  from  Holyhead  to  Beliui/s-y- 
Coed  over  one  of  the  finest  roads  in  the  world. 


chapter  ^tnentpone 
Jfrom  JBublin  tlTtrougl)  OTales;  to  Cnglanb 

WE  left  Dublin  with  regret;  as  it  is  such 
a  beautiful  city  and  there  is  so  much 
to  enjoy  there.  We  arranged  for 
space  for  our  car  on  the  night  passenger  boat 
to  Holyhead,  Wales,  so  that  it  would  go  over 
with  us,  and  we  turned  the  car  over  to  the  agent 
of  the  line  at  the  London  and  Northwestern  pier 
in  Dublin  about  five  o'clock.  The  gross  charge 
for  loading,  unloading  and  taking  it  over,  all  at 
the  company's  risk,  was  43^  9d  (about  $10.50). 
We  had  failed  to  remember  that  it  is  one  of  the 
rules  of  shipment  on  all  of  these  boats  that  the 
tank  of  the  motor  must  be  entirely  emptied  of 
gasoline  and  as  our  tank  held  about  twenty  gal- 
lons and  we  had  filled  it  that  afternoon  we 
donated  the  whole  amount  to  the  wharf-master, 
who  quietly  filled  pail  after  pail  and  emptied 
them  into  a  large  barrel  which  he  evidently  kept 
there  to  receive  contributions  of  this  sort  from 
forgetful  motorists.     This  gasoline  business  must 

255 


iWotoring  ^btoab 


make  quite  a  little  revenue  for  him  as  every  car 
which  is  shipped,  and  they  ship  from  five  to  ten 
a  day  in  the  summer  season,  contributes  more 
or  less  to  his  barrel.  He  did  not  take  me  into 
his  confidence  but  I  am  led  to  believe  that  he 
sells  this  same  gasoline  to  motorists  arriving 
from  England,  whose  cars  have  to  be  replenished 
before  they  can  leave  the  pier. 

The  trip  across  from  Dublin  to  Holyhead, 
which  takes  only  about  five  hours,  was  made  very 
comfortably.  We  had  secured  staterooms  which 
gave  us  the  privilege  of  lying  down,  but  our  rest 
was  broken  upon  our  arrival  at  Holyhead  at  one 
o'clock  in  the  morning  when  every  one  is  hustled 
off  the  boat.  The  officials  told  us  that  our  car 
would  be  taken  off  during  the  night  and  we  would 
find  it  the  next  morning  on  the  wharf  ready  for 
delivery,  so  we  went  at  once  to  the  Station  Hotel 
which  adjoins  the  quay  and  train-sheds  of  the 
railway,  and  were  soon  having  our  second  in- 
stallment of  sleep  that  night. 

We  had  planned  to  get  a  rather  early  start  for 
our  Sunday's  run  through  Wales,  but  when  we 
went  to  get  our  car  we  found  that  the  man 
having  the  keys  to  the  freight  sheds  into  which 
it  had  been  run  had  gone  to  church  and  would 
not  be  back  until  about  noon.     We  persuaded 

256 


Bettwys-y-Coed,  where  we  lunched  and  spent 
an  hour  or  two,  is  the  great  center  of  motorinq 
in  Wales  and  a  favorite  resort  for  tourists. 


Jfrom  Butilin  to  Cnglanb 


one  of  the  porters  at  the  hotel  to  go  to  his  house 
and  find  out  what  church  he  attended  and  take 
him  away  from  his  devotional  exercises  for  the 
purpose  of  unlocking  the  doors  and  enabling  us 
to  start  on  our  journey.  He  did  not,  however, 
propose  to  lose  any  part  of  the  sermon  so  sent 
his  keys  by  his  little  daughter,  who,  after  we  had 
gotten  our  motor  out,  saw  that  the  doors  were 
locked  and  returned  with  the  keys  to  church. 

The  run  from  Holyhead  to  Bettws-y-Coed  was 
over  one  of  the  finest  roads  in  the  world.  The 
entire  English  nation  takes  a  justifiable  pride  in 
it.  The  scenery  was  typically  Welsh,  especially 
across  the  Island  of  Anglesey  which  is  separated 
from  the  main  shore  by  the  Menai  Strait.  We 
crossed  the  strait  at  Bangor,  which  is  a  brisk 
little  town  of  about  twelve  thousand  inhabitants, 
and  the  seat  of  the  University  College  of  North 
Wales.  Bangor  has  a  cathedral  the  original  of 
which  dates  back  to  the  sixth  century. 

There  are  two  magnificent  bridges  crossing  the 
Menai  Strait  and  connecting  the  mainland  of 
Wales  w^ith  the  Island  of  Anglesey.  The  sus- 
pension bridge  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  most  per- 
fect specimens  of  bridge  construction  in  the 
world,  and  has  stood  since  1826.  It  is  580  feet 
long  from  pier  to  pier  and  1,000  feet   over   all, 

257 


iHotoring  ^Ijroab 


while  the  roadway  is  100  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  water  at  high  tide.  The  tubular  bridge, 
which  was  built  by  Robert  Stephenson,  and 
was  finished  in  1850,  consists  of  two  parallel 
tubes  or  tunnels  formed  by  the  combination  of 
innumerable  small  tubes  firmly  riveted  together. 
These  tubes  which  rest  on  five  piers,  have  a 
length  of  1,840  feet.  It  is  said  that  the  summer 
heat  at  noonday  increases  the  length  of  this 
structure  by  nearly  a  foot  and  a  very  clever 
mechanical  device  has  been  arranged  to  take 
care  of  the  expansion  and  contraction. 

Just  beyond  Bangor  we  passed  the  Penrhyn 
slate  quarries,  the  largest  in  the  world.  There 
are  employed  here  over  3,000  quarrymen  and 
over  360  tons  of  the  finest  slate  are  shipped  every 
day.  This  quarry,  of  which  we  had  a  most 
excellent  view  in  passing,  is  like  a  huge  amphi- 
theater, the  successive  steps  or  terraces  each 
being  from  forty  to  sixty  feet  in  height.  The 
quarry  now  has  a  depth  of  1,000  feet  and  drillings 
show  that  there  is  still  nearly  2,000  feet  of  solid 
slate  below  the  present  floor.  Tram  lines  run 
along  each  terrace  to  convey  the  output  to  the 
immense  hydraulic  lifts  which  raise  it  to  the  sur- 
face. As  we  passed  this  great  quarry  in  the 
afternoon  the  sun  was  reflected  at  such  an  angle 

258 


We  crossed  the  Straits  of  Menai,  which  sepa- 
rates the  Island  of  Anglesey  from  Wales,  by 
the  huge  Suspension  Bridge  built  in  1819-26. 


Jfrom  Bublin  to  Cnglanb 


on  the  slate  that  it  had  almost  the  brilliancy  of 
glass. 

Bettws-y-Coed  is  one  of  the  popular  resorts  of 
Wales  and  its  beauties  are  such  that  this  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at.  We  stopped  here  at  the  delight- 
ful Royal  Oak  Hotel,  the  house  of  the  famous 
sign  by  David  Cox,  which  is  spending  its  hoary 
old  age  in  a  comfortable  frame  indoors.  The 
name  of  this  town  translated  into  English  is  "The 
Chapel  in  the  Wood."  It  ic  delightfully  located 
in  a  valley  at  the  junction  of  two  beautiful 
streams  and  is  surrounded  by  high  hills  closely 
wooded  to  their  summits.  There  are  few  places 
in  Great  Britain  more  beautiful  than  Bettws-y- 
Coed  and  it  is  filled  every  summer  with  visitors 
from  all  over  the  world.  It  is  a  favorite 
rendezvous  of  artists,  fishermen  and  motorists. 
There  is  no  place  in  Wales  as  conveniently 
situated  for  day's-run  motor  trips,  and  it  may  be 
added  that  there  are  few  more  beautiful  countries 
than  Wales.  Its  scenery,  roads,  people,  its 
legends,  history  and  villages,  all  appeal  to  lovers 
of  the  beautiful  and  the  historic.  Llandudno, 
the  fashionable  Welsh  seashore  resort;  Rhyl, 
Hawarden  (pronounced  Harden),  the  home  of 
the  late  Mr.  Gladstone,  and  a  score  of  other 
places  may  be  reached  from  Bettws-y-Coed  in  a 

259 


otoring  ^tiroab 


few  hours  run   over    perfect   roads,   and   amid 
fascinating  scenes  and  scenery. 

We  left  the  Royal  Oak  after  luncheon,  and 
followed  the  exquisite  valley  for  miles,  winding 
in  and  out  forest  dells,  with  here  vistas  of  wild 
mountain  scenery,  and  there  glimpses  of  sweet 
little  villages  nestling  beside  swift  running 
streams.  We  crossed  the  line  into  England, 
and  made  our  first  stop  at  Wrexham,  visiting  the 
churchyard  where  Elihu  Yale,  founder  of  Yale 
College,  was  buried  in  1721.  His  tomb  is  inclosed 
by  an  iron  fence  through  which  the  epitaph 
carved  in  the  stone  is  easily  deciphered.  It  reads: 

"Born  in  America,  in  Europe  bred.     In  Africa  traveled,  in  Asia 
wed 
Where  long  he  lived  and  thrived,  in  London  dead. 
Much  good,  some  ill  he  did,  so  hope  all's  even 
And  that  his  soul  through  Mercy's  gone  to  heaven. 
You  that  survive  and  read  this  tale  take  care 
For  this  most  certain  exit  to  prepare, 
When  blest  in  peace  the  actions  of  the  just 
Smell  sweet  and  blossom  in  the  silent  dust." 

From  Wrexham  it  is  only  an  hour's  run  to 
Chester,  and  we  drew  up  at  the  Grosvenor  Hotel 
late  in  the  afternoon  after  a  glorious  day's  run. 
In  fact  the  four  most  beautiful  days'  runs  we 
had  enjoyed  on  our  entire  trip  were  made  on 
Sunday,  an  incidental  coincidence  which  we  had 
not  in  any  way  planned. 

260 


chapter  tlTtDentp^Ctoo 
Jfrom  Cijcsfter  to  ^outfjampton 


chapter  Vt\x)tntv=mo 

Wt\t  Hasit  JPortion  of  (Bnx  Crip  from  Cfjejiter  to 
Southampton 

SO  much  has  been  written  about  the  quaint 
old  town  of  Chester  that  httle  new  can  be 
told  of  it.  We  remained  at  the  excellent 
Grosvenor  Hotel  two  nights  and  a  day,  visiting, 
of  course,  the  great  and  impressive  cathedral, 
walking  over  the  old  city  walls,  which  follow  the 
lines  of  the  Roman  parapets,  in  going  to  the 
cheese  market,  where  each  month  a  public  sale 
of  Cheshire  cheeses  is  held;  and  in  visiting 
the  fascinating  old  shops  for  which  Chester  is 
famous.  Their  attractiveness  captures  Ameri- 
can dollars  in  untold  numbers,  and  their  wares 
are  so  inviting  that  it  is  doubtful  if  any  visitor, 
no  matter  how  hardened  he  or  she  may  be  to 
the  wiles  of  the  foreign  shopkeeper,  gets  out  of 
Chester  without  succumbing  to  some  of  the  bar- 
gains so  temptingly  offered. 

From  Chester  we  went  direct  to  Manchester, 
the  chief  industrial  town  of  England,  arriving  at 

263 


ittotorins  ^broab 


the  Midland  Hotel  in  time  for  dinner.  This 
hotel  is  one  of  the  group  of  hotels  owned  and 
operated  by  the  Midland  Railway  Company,  and 
it  is  easily  the  finest  house  in  Great  Britain  out- 
side of  London.  It  has  all  of  the  characteristic 
features  of  the  famous  New  York  hotels,  includ- 
ing palm  rooms,  cafes,  ballrooms,  et  cetera,  and 
one  could  almost  imagine,  if  it  were  not  for  the 
people  he  saw  about  him,  that  he  w^as  in  the 
American  metropolis. 

It  is  said  that  it  always  rains  in  Manchester. 
We  cannot  attest  to  that  fact  but  we  are  certain 
that  we  never  saw  it  rain  harder  anywhere  than 
it  did  all  the  time  we  were  there.  It  was  such  a 
downpour  that  we  did  not  leave  the  hotel  from 
the  time  we  arrived  until  we  left  the  city.  We  had 
hoped  to  see  something  of  the  splendid  municipal 
and  manufacturing  features  of  the  city,  w  hich  has 
been  the  world's  center  for  cotton  goods  for 
centuries,  but  we  decided  that  it  would  be  like 
viewing  scenery  through  Niagara  Falls,  so  we 
gave  it  up,  and  the  day  following  our  arrival, 
during  a  brief  respite  in  the  rain,  we  started  for 
Derby,  our  friend,  the  then  Consul  General  at 
Manchester,  and  his  daughters,  accompanying  us 
in  their  motor  as  far  as  Buxton  where  we  lunched 
together  at  the  St.  Ann's  Hotel.    This  run  took 

264 


Our  friend  the  Cnnsul-General  and  his  daugh- 
ters accompanied  us  and  ive  phoforjraphed  the 
cars  on  the  highest  point  reached  i>i/  ani/  road 
in  England. 


Jfrom  Cfjesfter  to  ^outf)ampton 


us  through  the  far-famed  Peak  country,  over 
the  highest  portion  of  England,  and  we  stopped 
and  photographed  the  two  automobiles  side  by 
side  where  the  greatest  altitude  above  sea  level 
is  reached  by  any  highway.  The  country  over 
which  we  passed  was  rather  bare,  but  the  views 
undoubtedly  would  have  been  worth  seeing  had 
the  rain  given  us  a  chance  to  see  for  any  dis- 
tance. 

Buxton  is  famous  as  one  of  the  three  chief  in- 
land watering  places  of  England  and  the  highest 
town  above  the  sea  level.  It  has  long  been 
famous  for  its  hot  springs  and  baths  and  reminds 
one,  in  general  appearance,  very  much  of  Hom- 
burg  and  other  German  spas. 

From  Buxton  we  followed  the  valley  of  the 
diminutive  Wye,  the  road  being  chiefly  down 
grade,  and  taking  us  through  almost  a  continu- 
ous succession  of  little  settlements.  At  Edensor, 
a  quaint  bit  of  an  English  rural  town  adjoining 
the  great  park  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  nine 
miles  in  circumference,  we  stopped  to  see  Chats- 
worth,  the  Duke's  country-seat  and  one  of  the 
famous  places  of  Great  Britain.  To  see  Chats- 
worth  as  it  should  be  seen  means  days,  not 
hours;  so  we  had  a  most  superficial  view  only. 
The  Duke  was  not  in  residence,  so  we  had  to 

265 


[otoring  ^tiroab 


content  ourselves  with  seeing  only  so  much  as 
the  somewhat  officious  attendant  was  willing  to 
disclose  of  the  great  mansion,  nearly  as  large  as 
our  Capitol  and  filled  with  works  of  art  of  in- 
estimable value.  No  brief  or  even  extended 
account  can  convey  an  adequate  idea  of  the 
splendor  of  this  noted  place  with  its  art 
treasures,  its  fountains  throwing  water  265  feet 
high,  its  great  park  and  the  beauty  of  its  entire 
setting. 

A  few  minutes  run  in  our  motor  from  Chats- 
worth  took  us  to  Haddon  Hall,  one  of  the  most 
perfect  specimens  of  the  old  English  baronial 
architecture.  This  was  the  home  of  the  Vernons, 
whose  daughter,  Dorothy,  raised  such  a  tumult 
in  the  16th  century  by  eloping  with  Sir  John 
Manners.  The  building  is  not  occupied  as  a 
residence,  but  is  well  preserved  and  very  inter- 
esting. After  stopping  for  a  cup  of  tea  at  the 
charming  old  Peacock  Inn  at  Rowsley,  we 
pushed  on  over  a  most  interesting  road,  and 
through  picturesque  scenery  to  Matlock  Bath 
in  the  valley  of  the  Derwent. 

Within  two  miles  and  stretching  along  the 
valley  there  are  no  less  than  five  Matlocks — 
Matlock  Bridge,  Matlock  Village,  Matlock 
Green,  Matlock  Bank  and  Matlock  Bath,  the 

266 


Jfrom  CijEsiter  to  Southampton 


latter  the  most  important  place  in  the  heart  of 
a  wild  gorge  of  the  Derwent.  Although  it  is  a 
favorite  place  for  tourists  we  did  not  stop,  but 
continued  on  to  Derby  which  we  reached  with- 
out incident,  stopping   at   the   Midland  Hotel. 

Derby  was  known  in  earlier  times  because 
William  the  Conqueror  had  presented  the  town 
and  the  surrounding  country  to  his  natural 
son,  Peveril  of  the  Peak,  but  no  trace  at  present 
exists  of  the  castle  w^hich  was  erected  by  the 
young  man.  It  is  known  now  as  the  headquar- 
ters of  the  Midland  Railway,  the  finest  railway 
system  in  England,  and  the  Royal  Derby 
Porcelain  Works,  which  are  visited  by  all 
tourists.  Americans  have  a  special  fondness  for 
Derby  because  it  is  about  the  only  place  in  Eng- 
land where  our  national  game  of  baseball  is 
regularly  played. 

The  run  from  Derby  to  Leicester  was  through 
such  a  region  as  can  be  found  in  rural  England 
only.  We  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to 
stop  every  little  while  to  admire  some  quaint 
little  village  or  some  particularly  picturesque 
pastoral  scene.  Leicester  has  a  history  which 
makes  the  discovery  of  America  seem  like  a 
modern  event.  Its  original  foundation  is 
ascribed  to  King  Lear,  and  many  evidences  of 

267 


otoring  ^broab 


Roman  occupancy  have  been  unearthed  in  the 
city.  The  chief  Roman  relic  is  the  Jewry  Wall, 
the  remaining  portion  being  about  75  feet  long 
and  20  feet  high.  It  is  said  to  have  inclosed 
that  portion  of  the  town  in  which  the  Jews  were 
permitted  to  live.  Richard  II.  died  in  Leicester, 
and  his  stone  coffin  was  afterwards  used  as 
a  watering  trough  in  front  of  the  old  Blue  Boar 
Inn. 

From  Leicester  we  jogged  along  leisurely  to 
Rugby,  whose  famous  school,  the  pride  of  Eng- 
land, dates  back  to  1547,  and  which  now  has 
about  450  students.  Unfortunately  it  was  vaca- 
tion time,  so  we  had  no  chance  to  see  the  boys 
at  work  and  play.  From  here  we  went  to  Leam- 
ington, another  of  the  popular  English  watering 
places  which  has  a  number  of  springs  of  as 
diversified  analysis  as  those  at  Saratoga.  We 
found  most  comfortable  accommodations  at  the 
Manor  House,  a  pleasant,  homelike  place  sur- 
rounded by  an  attractive  garden,  with  a  pro- 
fusion of  roses. 

Almost  adjoining  Leamington  is  Warwick  and 
its  castle  which  dates  back  to  the  Saxon  times, 
and  about  five  miles  distant  are  the  grand  old 
ruins  of  the  grander  Kenil worth.  These  two 
historic   spots   have   been   described   a  million 

268 


jFrom  Ctejfter  to  ^outfjampton 


times,  more  or  less,  and  I  shall  not  attempt  to 
add  anything  to  what  has  been  said.  This  also 
is  true  of  Stratford-on-Avon,  at  which  place  we 
stopped  for  an  hour,  continuing  thence  directly 
to  Oxford,  putting  up  at  the  Clarendon  Hotel 
and  spending  some  time  in  visiting  the  most  noted 
of  Oxford's  twenty-one  colleges,  at  which  there 
are  three  thousand  students.  Beyond  Oxford  we 
entered  the  valley  of  the  Thames  and  followed 
the  famous  river  to  Reading.  We  made  no  stop 
here  but  went  on  to  Winchester,  reaching  the 
George  Hotel  there  in  time  for  dinner.  This 
city  is  one  of  great  antiquity  and  is  the  seat  of  a 
magnificent  cathedral.  It  is  said  that  after  the 
Norman  Conquest  this  town  rivaled  London  in 
commercial  importance  but  a  conflagration  in 
1141  impeded  its  progress  for  so  long  a  time 
that  the  present  metropolis  left  it  far  in  the  rear 
commercially. 

After  visiting  the  cathedral  the  morning  after 
our  arrival  and  spending  several  hours  about  this 
quaint,  sleepy  old  town  we  regretfully  got  into 
our  car  for  the  last  run,  one  of  only  about  twenty 
miles  to  Southampton,  where  our  motor  tour  was 
to  end.  The  distance  was  covered  only  too 
quickly  and  about  noon  we  drew  up  in  front  of 
the  Southwestern  Hotel  with  mingled  feelings  of 

269 


iWotorins  ^tiroab 


regret  on  the  one  hand  that  this  most  delightful 
motoring  trip  was  at  an  end,  and  thankfulness  on 
the  other  that  it  had  been  made  without  mishap 
or  accident  of  any  kind.  We  all  took  a  senti- 
mental pleasure  in  patting  our  Locomobile  as  if 
it  had  been  a  human  being  and  saying:  "Well 
done.  You  have  carried  us  several  thousand 
miles  without  default  or  complaint.  So  per- 
fectly have  you  done  your  work  that  but  once 
on  the  entire  trip  have  we  had  to  stop  on  your 
account  and  that  for  a  moment  only  because  of 
a  trivial  disorder  of  what  mechanics  have 
called  one  of  your  'bushings.'" 

After  we  had  taken  the  last  of  our  things  out 
of  the  car  and  given  it  our  benediction,  it  was 
driven  to  the  office  of  the  shippers  and  turned 
over  to  them  for  shipment  back  to  New  York. 
The  crate  from  which  we  had  unpacked  it  at 
Havre  had  been  shipped  to  Southampton  and 
we  found  it  there  awaiting  our  arrival.  There 
was  nothing  for  us  to  do  but  to  consign  the  car 
to  the  shippers  and  then  to  visit  the  office  of  the 
United  States  Consul  and  make  a  declaration 
before  him  that  we  were  shipping  into  the 
United  States  an  American-made  car,  giving 
the  number  of  its  motor,  the  factory  number 
of  the  car,  the  color  it  was  painted  and  various 

270 


At  ^Yrexham  we  visited  the  grave  of  Elihu  Yale, 
the  founder  of  Yale  College,  in  the  old  church- 
yard, and  deciphered  its  curious  inscription. 


Jfrom  Cfiesitet  to  Southampton 


other  required  details.  This  having  been  sworn 
to  before  the  Consul  our  motor  car  tour  was 
finished. 

We  sailed  from  Southampton  on  the  following 
day  upon  the  steamship  Blilcher  of  the  Hamburg- 
American  Line,  bringing  with  us  memories  of  a 
delightful  two  months  that  will  remain  with  all 
of  us  as  long  as  we  live. 


271 


As  ire  (Ireir  ?/;)  to  the  hotel  at  Soulhamptun 
ue  realized  that  our  tour  was  at  an  end,  hut 
felt  that  !/ears  could  not  obliterate  the  memories 
of  the  pleasures  we  had  enjoyed. 


chapter  tE^toentp=tf)ree 

tactical  Suggestions!  for  a 
Jforcign  Jflotor  Ktip 


Cfjapter  Vt\3)mtp-t\)nt 

practical  ^uggesftiong  to  Cfjosfe  Contemplating  a 
jForeign  illotor  ^rip 

IN  TAKING  one's  own  car  to  Europe  there 
are  a  few  annoyances,  but  the  satisfaction 
in  knowing  just  what  you  can  count  on  is 
more  than  compensation.  In  the  first  place,  no 
apologies  are  necessary  when  you  take  an  Amer- 
ican car.  A  few  years  ago  the  French  manu- 
facturers were  far  ahead  of  us  in  construction, 
style,  finish,  durability  of  parts  and  dependa- 
bility. But  a  few  years  to  an  American  manu- 
facturer are  as  a  generation  to  those  of  other 
nations.  We  make  progress  rapidly  and  to-day 
an  American  automobile  of  the  best  make  can 
be  taken  to  Europe  with  every  confidence  that  it 
will  stand  up  to  the  work  just  as  satisfactorily 
as  the  best  foreign  car. 

Those  who  are  contemplating  the  trip  and 
expect  to  take  over  their  own  cars  will  find  the 
following  suggestions  valuable,  and  the  informa- 
tion correct,  so  far  as  it  goes. 

Unless  the  owner  intends  to  drive  the  car  him- 

275 


iWotoring  ^broab 


self  it  is  best  to  take  over  with  him  his  own  chauf- 
feur. He  can  be  sent  over  in  the  second  cabin 
on  the  same  steamer  with  the  car.  If  the  owner 
is  to  do  the  driving  it  is  advisable  to  secure  in 
each  country  a  mechanic  who  can  do  the  neces- 
sary dirty  work  on  the  car,  but  my  advice  is  to 
take  your  own  chauffeur.  It  is  cheaper  in  the 
long  run  and  far  more  satisfactory.  The  aver- 
age foreign  chauffeur  is  indifferent  and  fool- 
hardy and,  with  the  French  particularly,  deter- 
mined to  "burn  up"  the  road  regardless  of  your 
instructions  or  desires.  I  met  a  friend  in  Tours 
who  had  employed  a  French  chauffeur  and  he 
told  me  that  "he  (my  friend)  had  died  a  dozen 
times  during  the  past  month"  from  sheer  fright, 
and  that  try  as  hard  as  he  might  he  could  not 
cajole,  order  or  compel  his  chauffeur  to  drive  at 
anything  but  a  breakneck  pace.  At  all  hotels  a 
very  reasonable  charge  is  made  for  the  chauf- 
feur's board  and  lodging,  usually  not  over  five 
or  six  francs  or  shillings  a  day. 

It  is  important  to  provide  a  description  of 
your  car,  translated  into  French,  if  you  are 
going  to  France  or  Italy,  and  into  German  if 
you  are  going  into  Germany,  giving  the  maker's 
name,  value  and  style  of  car,  horse  power,  num- 
ber of  cylinders  and  size,  wheel  base,  number  of 

276 


practical  ^ugsesitions; 


motor,  factory  number  of  car,  motor  power, 
weight  in  pounds  and  kilos,  color,  and  equip- 
ment— that  is,  horns,  lamps,  etc.  This  will  save 
time  and  trouble  in  passing  the  customs  house 
formalities.  Incidentally  it  may  be  remarked 
that  acetylene  lamps  are  prohibited  in  cities  and 
towns  in  France.  Two  side  lights  are  required, 
the  right  white  and  the  left  green,  also  rear 
lamps  showing  number. 

Affix  a  small  brass  plate  to  the  body  of  the 
car  upon  which  is  engraved  the  owner's  name, 
his  city  and  state  and  "U.  S.  A." 

Have  extra-heavy  brakes  put  on  the  car  un- 
less it  is  already  well-equipped  and,  while  not 
necessary,  it  is  advisable  to  add  strong  sprags 
to  hold  the  car  should  it  start  to  back  on  a  hill. 
It  is  well  to  take  with  you  two  or  three  sets  of 
Weed's  chain  grips. 

On  arrival  in  France  equip  the  car  with 
Michelin  anti-puncture  shields  on  rear  w^heels, 
and  chains  on  front  mud  guards.  These  are 
described  in  chapter  two. 

Ship  your  car  with  the  oldest  tires  you  have  so 
you  can  discard  them  on  arrival  and  equip  there 
with  the  best  foreign  tire,  the  Michelin,  at  one- 
half  what  they  cost  in  this  country. 

If  you  take  over  an  American  car  have  its 

277 


otorins  ^broati 


maker  pack  for  you  a  box  containing  a  duplicate 
of  every  essential  part,  including  brakes,  which 
you  are  likely  to  have  to  replace,  and  which  could 
not  readily  be  made  in  a  repair  shop  abroad.  This 
box  can  be  packed  under  your  car  in  the  crate 
and  fastened  to  the  bottom  of  the  crate.  Leave 
these  parts  at  some  central  point  from  which 
anything  you  need  can  be  sent  you  quickly. 
Arrange  with  the  manufacturer  to  be  credited 
after  your  return  with  all  parts  not  needed. 

Procure  five  small  photographs  (size  |  x  1 J 
inches)  of  chauffeur  and  yourself  if  you  expect  to 
drive  the  car,  for  affixing  to  licenses  in  countries 
other  than  Great  Britain. 

Arrange  with  some  foreign  shipper;  there 
are  several  in  New  York  City  and  Bos- 
ton, for  the  shipment  of  your  car.  They  will 
take  entire  charge  and  you  have  nothing  to  do 
but  turn  it  over  to  them  and  they  will  have  their 
packer  make  the  crate  for  it.  The  charge  for 
a  heavy  crate,  put  together  with  bolts  so  that  it 
can  be  taken  apart  in  sections  and  held  for  use 
in  returning  the  car  to  America,  is  $50  for  the 
ordinary  touring  body  and  $60  for  a  limousine. 
The  charge  for  trucking  the  packed  car  to 
the  ship  is  $10;  charge  for  derrick  used  in  load- 
ing on  this  side   $12  (no  charge  for  loading  is 

278 


^Practical  ^usgegtionsf 


made  on  cargo  boats  on  crates  weighing  less 
than  4,400  pounds),  and  unloading  and  dock 
fees  on  the  other  side  $10  to  $15.  To  these 
amounts  there  is  to  be  added  the  cost  of  freight 
and  a  charge  of  $10  made  by  the  shippers  for 
their  services.  The  freight  charge  varies,  of 
course,  according  to  port  of  shipment  and  char- 
acter of  ship  on  which  car  is  sent,  whether  ex- 
press or  cargo  steamer.  The  charge  to  Havre 
by  the  French  Line  on  cars  weighing,  crated, 
less  than  4,400  pounds  is  21  cents  per  cubic 
foot;  on  cars  weighing,  crated,  more  than  4,400 
pounds,  26^  cents  per  cubic  foot.  On  slow 
cargo  boats  of  the  same  line  the  charges  are 
13  cents  and  16  cents  respectively.  As  few 
touring  cars,  crated,  weigh  less  than  4,400 
pounds,  it  is  safe  to  estimate  the  freight  by 
passenger  steamer  at  about  $80  to  $85,  and  by 
slow  cargo  steamer  at  about  $65  to  $70.  Two 
weeks'  additional  time  should  be  allowed  for 
shipment  by  a  cargo  boat.  The  freight  charges 
from  Havre  are  17  cents  per  cubic  foot,  any 
weight,  on  fast  boats,  and  12  cents  on  cargo  boats 
with  same  derrick  charges.  Freight  charges  on 
the  boats  of  the  Hamburg  American  Line  or 
North  German  Lloyd  to  Genoa  or  Naples,  Italy, 
are  about  13  cents  a  cubic  foot,  with  derrick 

279 


iWotorins  ^tiroab 


charges  at  each  end  of  about  $12  for  crates 
weighing  over  3,000  pounds  on  the  North  Ger- 
man Lloyd,  or  over  4,480  pounds  on  the  Ham- 
burg American  Line.  The  cost  of  clearing 
through  customs  house  and  unpacking  at  Genoa 
or  Naples,   is  about  $25. 

It  is  advisable  to  make  sure  that  the  boat  on 
which  your  car  is  to  be  shipped  has  hatchways 
sufficiently  large  so  that  the  crate  may  be  put 
in  the  hold  and  raised  out  of  it  without  tilting. 
Be  sure  you  have  a  marine  insurance  policy 
covering  your  car  in  transit.  The  shipper  will 
procure  this  for  you;  and  also  have  him  turn 
over  to  you  for  use  with  the  customs  officials 
upon  the  return  of  your  car  the  original  shipping 
manifest  from  America  to  Europe.  This  mani- 
fest should  describe  the  car  fully,  giving  factory 
number,  etc.,  etc. 

If  you  are  going  to  France  turn  over  to  your 
shippers  two  or  three  weeks  in  advance  a  type- 
written copy  of  the  description  of  your  car, 
retaining  a  copy  yourself,  and  five  small  photo- 
graphs of  whoever  is  going  to  act  as  chauffeur. 
If  owner  and  chauffeur  are  each  going  to  drive, 
a  "Driving  Certificate"  must  be  procured  for 
each  from  the  French  authorities.  Your  ship- 
per  will   arrange   to   secure   the   certificates   as 

280 


practical  ^usses!tion£f 


well  as  the  necessary  "Circulation  Permit," 
which  corresponds  to  our  state  license.  The 
shipper's  representative  at  Havre  will  have  the 
necessary  official  at  hand  when  the  car  is  un- 
packed and  ready  to  be  turned  over  so  that  the 
examination  of  the  driver  to  determine  his 
ability  may  be  had  without  delay.  This  exam- 
ination generally  consists  in  taking  the  official 
around  a  block  or  two,  the  passing  of  a  few  salu- 
tations, and  the  judicious  extending  of  a  tip  of 
from  five  to  ten  francs. 

The  shipper  will  also  attend  to  the  paying  of 
the  customs,  the  amount  being  placed  in  his 
hands  for  the  purpose  at  the  time  of  shipment. 
The  average  customs  deposit  in  France  amounts 
to  about  $175  on  a  touring  car  and  $200  on  a 
limousine.  The  amount  is  figured  upon  weight 
and  the  entire  sum  is  returned  at  the  port  from 
which  the  car  is  shipped  out  of  the  country,  if 
shipment  is  made  within  one  year.  To  secure 
this  refund,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  present 
the  customs  receipt  issued  by  the  officials  at  the 
port  of  entry,  therefore  do  not  lose  it. 

If  you  enter  France  from  England,  arrange 
all  the  details  of  customs,  licenses,  etc.,  through 
the  Motor  Union  of  England,  reference  to  which 
is  made  elsewhere.    This  will  save  much  trouble. 

281 


Motovin^  ^broab 


The  customs  duty  in  Italy  must  be  paid  when 
the  car  enters  the  country.  A  receipt  is  given 
and  the  amount  returned  when  the  car  is  taken 
out  of  the  country.  A  lead  seal  is  affixed  to  the 
car  and  must  not  be  disturbed.  The  average 
duty  is  about  $120. 

In  entering  England  no  duty  is  charged  and 
the  freight  to  England  is  less  than  to  France. 
The  three  chief  English  ports  are  Liverpool, 
London  (docks  at  Tilbury,  eighteen  miles  from 
London),  and  Southampton.  The  preference 
lies  with  the  latter  two. 

To  Liverpool  the  freight  is  about  10  cents  a 
cubic  foot  and  return  charge  about  12  cents. 
Port  and  landing  charge  about  $25.  To  Lon- 
don the  freight  is  about  12 J  cents  per  cubic 
foot,  with  no  charge  for  loading  here,  but  about 
$10  to  $15  for  unloading  at  London.  To  South- 
ampton the  freight  is  13  cents  per  cubic  foot 
with  derrick  charges  at  each  end,  $12  port 
charge  and  $25  landing  charge. 

If  your  car  is  of  foreign  make  be  sure  to  have 
it  examined  before  shipment  by  United  States 
customs  officials  and  an  official  record  made  of 
it.  Foreign  cars  on  re-importation  are  subject  to 
duty  at  full  value  if  repairs  or  changes  amount 
ing  to  more  than  10  per  cent,  of  the  original 

282 


practical  ^uggesitions; 


cost  are  made  while  the  car  is  abroad.  This  is 
enforced  even  when  repairs  are  necessitated  by 
accident. 

If  you  have  taken  over  an  American  car  be 
sure,  before  returning,  to  go  to  the  United  States 
Consul  at  the  port  from  which  you  are  to  ship 
and  make  a  declaration  before  him  regarding 
the  car.  This  is  essential  to  facilitate  passage 
through  the  customs  house  on  return  to  the 
United  States.  This  declaration  should  contain 
the  material  facts  regarding  the  car,  including 
its  factory  number,  motor  number,  maker's 
name,  etc. 

If  your  car  is  of  American  make  you  must 
detach  from  it  before  shipment  back  to  this  coun- 
try any  horns,  sirens,  clocks  or  other  fixtures 
you  may  have  purchased  abroad,  and  ship  them 
separately.  The  customs  officials  do  not  pay 
any  attention  to  foreign  tires  which  are  on  the 
car  if  they  have  been  used  to  a  reasonable  extent, 
nor  do  they  demand  duty  for  minor  necessary 
repairs  up  to  10  per  cent,  of  the  original  cost 
of  the  car. 

It  is  essential  to  take  a  passport  with  you. 
This  may  be  procured  readily  from  the  State 
Department  at  Washington  upon  payment  of 
a  fee  of  one  dollar,  and  in  case  of  any  legal 

283 


iHotoring  ^tiroab 


proceedings  or  an  accident  abroad  it  is  impor- 
tant to  have  one. 

Bear  in  mind,  while  touring  abroad,  that 
foreigners  attach  much  more  importance  than 
do  Americans  to  pohteness,  and  when  you  are 
in  Rome  do  as  the  Romans  do.  A  pleasant 
smile  and  an  agreeable  manner  go  farther  in 
most  foreign  countries  than  a  tip.  And  never 
lose  your  temper  no  matter  how  great  the  provo- 
cation. 

If  you  are  not  already  a  member  of  the  Amer- 
ican Automobile  Association,  or  some  well- 
established  Automobile  Club,  join  before  you  go 
abroad.  The  fee  for  joining  the  American  Au- 
tomobile Association,  whose  office  is  at  437  Fifth 
Avenue,  New  York,  is  only  $2.00.  Application 
should  be  made  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Associa- 
tion. 

It  is  also  essential  that  you  should  join  the 
Touring  Club  de  France.  This  organization 
has  over  100,000  members  and  is  very  powerful, 
being  under  the  direct  patronage  of  the  French 
Government,  and  having  a  Board  of  Governors 
composed  of  many  distinguished  men.  The 
wearing  of  the  Club  button  on  your  cap  insures 
attention  anywhere  in  France.  It  costs  but  six 
francs  ($1.20)  to  become  a  member  and  many 

284 


J^tactical  ^usgesitionsf 


Americans  are  already  on  the  Club's  roll.  A 
simple  application  for  membership  made  to  the 
Club  at  65  Avenue  de  la  Grande  Armee,  Paris, 
is  all  that  is  necessary,  except  the  payment  of  6 
francs  ($1.20)  with  an  additional  charge  of  50 
centimes  (10  cents)  for  postage,  or  $1.30  in  all. 
The  Club  issues  a  year  book  containing  a  list  of 
3,000  selected  hotels,  at  which  all  members,  upon 
showing  their  card,  secure  a  reduction  of  from 
5  per  cent,  to  10  per  cent,  in  their  bill  (a  con- 
siderable item  when  one  is  touring).  This  item 
alone  saves  the  cost  of  membership  many  times 
over.  The  Club  issues  maps,  and  an  infinite 
number  of  descriptive  pamphlets,  giving  infor- 
mation as  to  hotels,  police  regulations,  customs 
laws,  etc.,  besides  more  than  300  card  itineraries 
with  sketch  maps,  and  a  dictionary  in  six 
languages  of  such  phrases  and  words  as  would 
be  of  use  to  a  motorist.  The  Club  will  upon 
application  make  up  special  itineraries  and  facili- 
tate a  foreign  tour  in  many  ways. 

The  home  of  the  Touring  Club,  Paris,  is  a 
very  dignified,  handsome  building  and  its  interior 
with  its  large  libraries  and  comfortable  lounging 
rooms  reminds  one  of  the  better  clubs  in  New 
York  or  London.  It  is  the  headquarters  of  all 
motor  tourists  and  those  in  charge  are  ready  to 

285 


iHotoring  ^broab 


give  the  fullest  information  and  extend  every 
courtesy. 

If  you  are  going  to  tour  in  Continental  coun- 
tries other  than  France  you  can  secure  through 
the  Club  a  triptyque  which  will  relieve  you  of 
all  the  details  regarding  duty  and  even  the  pay- 
ment of  it  in  the  various  countries  you  may  visit. 

The  application  for  a  triptyque  is  made  on  a 
prescribed  form  and  must  be  accompanied  by  a 
deposit  of  the  amount  of  duty  which  would  be  im- 
posed by  each  of  the  countries  to  be  visited.  The 
triptyque  is  issued  under  the  authority  of  the 
Club  which  becomes  responsible  for  its  members 
during  their  sojourn.  This  license  for  free  in- 
ternational circulation  is  printed  on  three  leaves 
or  sections  for  each  country  to  be  visited,  each 
set  of  three  bearing  the  same  serial  number. 
The  first  leaf  is  detached  by  the  customs  officials 
at  the  port  of  entry  to  any  country;  the  second 
is  retained  by  the  customs  officials  at  the  point 
of  final  departure  of  the  car  from  the  country, 
and  the  third  section  is  retained  by  the  member 
to  be  presented  finally  personally  or  by  mail  to 
the  Touring  Club,  whereupon  his  deposit  is  re- 
funded at  once  without  the  delay  and  incon- 
venience which  so  often  attend  repayment  of 
such  a  deposit  at  the  customs  house.    If  one  is  to 

286 


JPractical  ^uggesitionsi 


tour  in  France  only  and  does  not  expect  to  enter 
other  countries  on  the  Continent  the  triptyque 
is  unnecessary.  Its  chief  convenience  Kes  in  the 
fact  that  it  avoids  the  necessity  of  deaHng  with 
the  customs  oflScials  at  the  ports  of  entry  and 
departure.  It  is  not  necessary  in  taking  a  motor 
car  to  England  as  no  duty  is  exacted  in  Great 
Britain. 

Those  who  are  going  to  tour  in  Italy  should 
join  the  Touring  Club  of  Italy.  Its  headquarters 
are  at  14  Via  Monte  Napolene,  Milan.  Mem- 
bership costs  10  lire  ($1.94),  and  is  very  helpful. 
The  club  offers  most  of  the  facilities  afforded  by 
the  Touriny  Club  de  France.  The  Touring  Club 
of  Italy  is  represented  in  Naples  by  Baron 
Gaetano  De  Angelia,  Via  Carolina,  8,  and  in 
Genoa  by  Mr.  William  McKenzie,  care  Society 
AUeanza,  Piazza  Meridiana. 

If  you  are  going  to  tour  Great  Britain  join 
the  Motor  Union  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
which  corresponds  to  the  Touring  Club  de 
France.  Membership  which  costs  £1  Is  ($5.25) 
can  be  procured  in  advance  of  reaching  England 
by  application  to  the  Secretary,  No.  1  Albemarle 
Street,  Piccadilly,  London,  W.,  with  a  remittance 
covering  the  fee  named  above.  This  organization 
is  very  helpful  and  membership  therein  desirable  in 

287 


iWotoring  ^tiroab 


that  it  will  secure  discounts  from  the  customary 
prices  charged  at  many  hotels.  It  also  assists 
members  in  any  legal  complications,  in  shipping 
cars  to  France  or  other  European  countries,  in 
securing  insurance,  et  cetera.  It  will  also  forward 
blanks  for  securing  licenses  for  car  and  driver, 
and  number  plates,  and  have  them  ready  for  you 
upon  arrival.  The  cost  of  an  automobile  license 
in  England  is  ,£1  ($5.00)  and  the  license  is  good 
so  long  as  you  own  the  car.  You  have  to  secure 
driver's  and  owner's  licenses,  costing  5s  ($1.25) 
each,  and  the  charge  for  two  number  plates  (blue 
enamel  with  white  figures)  is  6s  ($1.50).  This 
covers  all  the  expense  of  taking  a  car  into  Eng- 
land, aside  from  freight  and  dock  charges. 
Licenses  can  be  secured  in  any  large  city  from 
the  clerk  of  the  County  Council  and  each  one  so 
issued  is  good  all  over  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 
There  is  an  Annual  Inland  Revenue  tax  of  about 
£5  but  it  is  rarely  collected  from  visiting  motor- 
ists making  a  short  sojourn. 

A  word  about  baggage  for  the  motor  car.  I 
had  worked  out  a  plan  for  our  automobile  trunk 
and  had  it  made  to  order  before  we  left  New 
York.  Our  experience  throughout  the  entire 
trip,  during  which  the  trunk  was  subjected  to 
the  hardest  tests  of   dust  and  torrents  of   rain, 

288 


practical  ^uggesftionjf 


shows  that  a  trunk  built  upon  these  lines  is  most 
satisfactory  for  touring  and  is  recommended 
unqualifiedly. 

It  was  simply  a  telescope  case  made  of  tough 
leatheroid  as  large  as  we  could  carry  on  our 
trunk  rack.  The  top,  which  was  lined  on  the 
inside  with  woolly  felt  fitted  down  snugly  over 
the  bottom  part  and  completely  enclosed  it  on  all 
sides.  A  heavy  leather  handle  at  either  end  was 
attached  as  well  as  on  top  and  two  heavy  straps 
went  around  it.  Within  this  large  case  were 
three  smaller  cases,  each  with  its  own  handle 
and  two  straps.  The  covers  of  these  cases 
which  fitted  over  the  bottom  portion  were 
lined  with  felt.  When  we  arrived  at  our  des- 
tination the  porters  took  the  large  telescope 
case  off  the  trunk  rack  at  the  back  of  the  car 
and  unstrapped  it  outside  of  the  hotel  under  our 
supervision.  As  soon  as  the  top  was  taken  off 
the  three  inside  cases  were  lifted  out  and 
could  be  carried  like  ordinary  dress-suit  cases  to 
our  rooms  while  the  large  outside  telescope  was 
usually  left  with  the  porter  until  we  were  ready 
to  depart.  As  a  result  the  luggage  which  we 
took  to  our  room  was  always  clean  with  no  dust 
or  mud  on  it.  As  to  luggage  and  clothing  for  a 
motor  car  trip  abroad  a  few  words  may  be  appre- 

289 


otorins  ^iroab 


ciated.  We  traveled  with  light  equipment.  In  ad- 
dition to  our  motor  trunk  just  referred  to,  we  had 
three  steamer  trunks,  one  for  each  two  people. 
These  trunks  we  shipped  ahead  of  us  by  ''Gra7ide 
Vitesse  in  France,  and  as  "Advance  Luggage"  in 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  meeting  them  every 
two  or  three  days.  The  method  of  such  ship- 
ment is  very  simple  and  by  it  you  can  have  your 
extra  trunks  delivered  from  your  hotel  in  one  city 
to  your  hotel  in  another,  where  they  will  be  aw^ait- 
ing  you  upon  arrival.  The  charges  which  are  rea- 
sonable should  always  be  paid  in  advance.  This 
is  important  as  the  rates  are  less  when  prepaid. 

The  motorist  is  likely  to  need  rather  heavy 
clothing  even  on  the  Continent  in  summer,  for 
the  evenings  are  cool,  and  it  is  essential  in  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland.  Overcoats,  wraps  and 
sweaters  are  necessary  and  light-weight  rubber 
coats  are  indispensable.  The  kind  which  open 
only  at  the  neck  and  go  on  over  the  head  are  the 
most  convenient.  A  light-weight  dust  coat  is  de- 
sirable also,  although  the  amount  of  dust  on 
foreign  roads  is  insignificant  compared  with  that 
endured  in  America. 

No  one  should  undertake  a  tour  abroad  with- 
out having  secured  before  the  start  an  indemnity 
policy  to  relieve  him  from  expense  and  the  an- 

290 


practical  ^uggefiitionsf 


noyances  of  delay  in  case  he  should  cause  any 
damage  to  persons  or  property.  A  policy  in  an 
American  company  would  be  practically  useless 
in  Europe.  It  is  therefore  advisable  to  take  out 
one  in  a  European  company  having  represen- 
tatives in  every  important  city  and  town  so  that 
in  case  of  trouble  the  company  can  come  to  your 
aid  without  delay.  The  laws  of  France  espe- 
cially are  very  rigid  and  severe  where  damage  to 
persons  or  property  is  done,  and  are  especially 
embarrassing  to  any  one  not  a  native.  I  took 
out  a  policy  in  a  French  company  for  protection 
while  in  France  and  another  in  England  but  this 
I  afterward  ascertained  was  a  useless  expense. 
There  are  several  English  companies  well  repre- 
sented in  France  and  their  policies  provide  all 
the  protection  necessary  and  cover  all  the  chief 
countries  of  Europe.  The  two  leading  com- 
panies, the  Ocean  Accident  &  Guarantee  Co., 
of  London,  and  the  General  Accident,  Fire  & 
Life  Assurance  Association,  of  Perth,  Scotland, 
have  agencies  in  New  York  City  and  it  would 
save  time  to  take  out  policies  before  sailing.  One 
thing  should  be  remembered  in  making  the  ap- 
plication: Premiums  are  rated  on  horse  power 
on  the  French  basis,  which  is  about  half  the 
American,  thus  it  is  safe  to  put  down  an  Amer- 

291 


JHotorins  ^broab 


ican  car  of  30-horse  power  at  15.  It  will  save 
considerable  of  the  premium. 

It  is  very  advisable  to  take  with  you  a  small 
"First  Aid  to  the  Injured"  kit  and  a  medicine 
box  containing  a  number  of  simple  remedies. 
These  can  be  procured  already  made  up  or  the 
necessary  items  can  be  purchased  singly.  Any 
physician  can  make  up  a  list  of  requisites  and 
medicines  for  use  in  case  of  an  accident  or  illness 
where  the  prompt  services  of  a  physician  are 
not  to  be  secured.  A  camera  is  a  most  desirable 
addition  and  the  photographs  afford  much  pleas- 
ure after  the  trip  is  over.  Baedeker's  guide 
books  are  absolutely  necessary,  and  the  keeping 
of  a  *'Log  Book"  is  also  recommended.  Books 
for  this  purpose  can  be  purchased  at  almost  any 
up-to-date  metropolitan  bookstore. 

One  more  suggestion:  If  you  are  a  smoker 
and  are  going  to  tour  France  take  your  own 
tobacco  and  pipe  or  cigars  for  no  American  can 
smoke  the  "tabac"  sold  in  France.  Cigars  are 
unobtainable  outside  the  large  cities  and  the 
smoking  tobacco  is  of  international  quality — 
you  smoke  it  in  one  country  and  smell  it  in  an- 
other. You  should  declare  any  cigars  or  tobacco 
you  take  into  France  with  you.  If  not,  and 
they  are  found,  they  will  be  confiscated. 

292 


j^racttcal  B>nQQt!itionfi 


The  itinerary  of  our  trip,  as  shown  by  the 
maps,  I  am  satisfied  gave  us  the  best  results  to 
be  obtained  in  the  time  we  had  at  our  disposal. 
It  was  made  up  after  consultation  with  friends 
who  had  previously  toured  and  while  we  did  not 
follow  definitely  the  route  which  we  had  fixed 
upon  before  leaving  home,  such  changes  as  were 
made  improved  it.  I  have,  therefore,  no  hesi- 
tation in  recommending  it  as  being  one  well 
calculated  to  take  in  the  most  interesting  points 
in  the  countries  visited,  and  to  give  the  widest 
variety  of  scenery  and  historical  places. 

We  made  the  most  of  our  time  without  rushing 
too  rapidly  or  over-tiring  ourselves  physically. 
It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  of  course,  that  our  trip 
was  not  made  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  cities 
with  art  galleries,  cathedrals  and  places  of 
historic  interest,  but  of  seeing  the  country  and 
the  smaller  towns. 

The  trip  we  took  can  be  made  comfortably, 
with  ample  time  to  see  every  place,  not  thor- 
oughly but  to  enjoy  the  chief  attractions,  in  two 
months. 

The  most  desirable  time  to  make  such  a  tour 
is  between  the  middle  of  May  and  the  middle  of 
September.  The  country  is  at  its  best  during 
this  season  and  good  weather  may  be  expected. 

293 


iWotoring  ^broab 


The  trip  is  beautiful  at  any  time,  except  the 
winter  season.  We  were  in  France  during  the 
harvest  time,  always  an  interesting  period,  but 
were  in  Scotland  in  August  when  they  have  the 
greatest  amount  of  rain  and  "mist*'  so  that 
where  we  had  France  at  its  best  we  really  had 
Scotland  at  its  worst.  If  we  were  to  repeat  the 
trip  we  are  inclined  to  believe  that  we  would  go 
to  England  and  Scotland  first  and  France  after- 
ward (although  this  is  merely  a  matter  of  senti- 
ment and  we  doubt  if  there  is  any  real  choice  in 
the  matter). 


294 


Set 

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electrotyped, 

printed  and  bound 

at 

THE  OUTING 

PRESS 

Depoiit, 

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SOUTWPDi'nXl''"^  °'  California 

4o!  H^grrd^i'venuf  ?o?i  '"'^'"^''^  '^^^^^^ 
Ra».,rn  ^k"  '    °*  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

from  ^K*?  T^*^"^' »°  ^f^e  library        ^ 
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